CHERUBINO (Hebr. plur. hērubhîm). – An invisible spirit and minister of God, executor of his will, who also manifests his presence and power, and who stands in a particular relationship with his «glory». The name, without explanation in Hebrew, is derived from the Babylonian hāribh, one who prays, blesses, and intercedes (v. BABILONESI). The c. first appear in Gen. 3:23–24, at the gate of the earthly Paradise, to prevent the progenitors, with a flaming sword, from access to the tree of life (cf. Ez. 28:14, 16). Their representation was the only one permitted to the Jews.
At God’s command, Moses placed two of them, in beaten gold and facing one another, on the ark, at the two ends of the mercy seat, which they covered with outstretched wings, symbolizing the invisible presence of Jahweh. From there, from the place «between the c.», God gave his oracles (Ex. 25:18–22; 37:7–9; Num. 7:89), and was therefore called «He who sits above the c.» (I Sam. 4:4; II Sam. 6:2; Is. 37:16; Ps. 80:2; 99:1). When he manifests himself in the storm, he «travels upon the c.» (Ps. 18:11). They were introduced into Solomon’s temple: two, standing at the two ends of the ark, covered it with their lower wings, while the upper ones reached until they touched the opposite walls. They were ten cubits high, with wings five cubits in length each, carved from olive wood and covered with gold (I Reg. 6:23–28; II Par. 3:10–13).
Other c. were woven onto the curtain that concealed the Holy of Holies (II Par. 3:14), and carved in bas-relief on the inner walls of the Temple, alternating with palms and blossoming flowers (I Reg. 6:29; Ez. 41:18–20, 25).
The prototype of such representations may perhaps be seen in the Egyptian genii, depicted on either side of the naos of the gods, on sarcophagi, which they surrounded with outstretched wings in order to protect them. The figure, however, presented to us by Ezekiel (1:5–14; 10:5, 12, 20, 21), is influenced by the composite representations carved in the Assyrian, Phoenician, and Hittite milieu. In them, art sought to unite the highest powers of nature and life.
CHERUBINO – Heads of cherubs in Perugino’s Assumption (second half of the 15th century) – Florence, Uffizi Gallery.
C. IN CHRISTIAN ART. — In the complex and not always clear iconography of the angelic choirs as it appears in Byzantine art of the early Middle Ages and in the art deriving from it, it is perhaps possible to clarify certain points concerning the c., which are generally depicted in monochrome or in hues tending toward monochrome blue or bluish green, just as the seraphim are depicted in red. Nevertheless, the varieties of representation are numerous, and while in the earliest periods the tetramorphic type with four wings predominates, as described by Ezekiel (1:1 ff.) (columns of St Mark’s), already around the middle of the 8th century (Rome, Santa Maria Antiqua) a six-winged type appears, with a human head entirely similar to that of the seraphim. Nor do other differences that at times seem possible to determine provide us with any greater certainty for purposes of distinction, such as the fact that the head of the c. should always be left visible, whereas the seraphim should almost conceal theirs among their wings, and the winged wheels upon which the feet of the c. often rest (Exultet di Bari, mid-11th century; Monreale, cathedral, 12th century). The only clear distinction, then, should be the predominance of blue. But this too is not decisive, since it is not uncommon (musicians in the cathedral of Cefalù, 12th century) for a mosaicist or painter to depict c. with red faces and multicoloured wings, and then to clarify his representation by indicating with an inscription that those he has depicted are indeed c.
It was in Tuscany, however, in the 14th century, that a clear differentiation began to emerge, at least in terms of colour. It had already been suggested in the 13th-century mosaics covering the dome of the Florentine baptistery, but it seems to have become clear in Siena, where the Lorenzetti distinctly differentiate the blue of the c. from the red of the seraphim and the yellow of the thrones. Thus in a painting by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Sienese Pinacoteca, in the Crucifixion attributed to Barna in the Vatican Pinacoteca, and in several paintings by Bernardo Daddi.
But during the 15th century, as the age characteristically progressed toward an increasingly naturalistic representation of sacred scenes, the significance of these distinctions seems to have faded.
One then sees little putti’s heads, sunk among soft multicoloured wings, distributed according to a purely aesthetic order within compositions and even inserted as decorative motifs into architectural elements; they would thus acquire a new interest in our eyes and arouse a different kind of admiration, above all for the intense human tenderness of their expression (Della Robbia, Desiderio da Settignano, Perugino, Pinturicchio, Giambellino, etc.). — Vedi Tav. LXXXVI.