Art, literature & history
Angel Blowing a Trumpet
1857–59
- Dating
- Date range
- Held at
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Medium
- black chalk
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 44.1 x 54 cm (17 3/8 x 21 1/4 in.)
- Collection no.
- 1976.130
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
Edgar Degas. Angel Blowing a Trumpet. The Cleveland Museum of Art. CC0 1.0. Compressed full-frame reproduction.
Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
About this artwork
Angel Blowing a Trumpet — Edgar Degas. 1857–59.
Medium: black chalk. Dimensions: Sheet: 44.1 x 54 cm (17 3/8 x 21 1/4 in.).
Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
The figure in this drawing closely resembles a number of trumpeting angels in drawings that Edgar Degas made between 1856 and 1858 in preparation for an ambitious but ultimately unrealized history painting on the subject of Saint John the Evangelist accompanied by an angel. Rather than referring to any single passage in the Book of Revelation, Degas distilled an image from passages describing seven trumpeting angels who unleash destruction on earth with their blasts, the voice of Christ that addresses John in loud tones "like a trumpet," and individual angels who lead and instruct the Evangelist.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.