We hope you enjoyed the recent video showing the sculptor John Angel working on the statues for the Cathedral. In this post we have two more John Angel videos showing his work. They are digitized copies of original 16mm film taken between 1931 and 1938.
The first one is titled VTS 01 2. It opens with Angel sculpting the Apostle Paul. The finished statue is the trumeau of the South Tower Portal.
Next up on the video are two relief sculptures. The theme on the first one seems to be the birth of Jesus. The second one appears to be Jesus appearing before Pilate. They are shaped like they may have been intended to be tympanum above doorways. I do not know where these two ended up in the Cathedral. Perhaps one of our subscribers can shed some light on this.
To view video Click Here. Push back button to return to this post. The video says it is 20 minutes and 25 seconds but it is blank after 9 minutes and 30 seconds.
The Second Video
The second “more John Angel videos” is titled VTS 01 3. It opens with an assistant removing the waste mold from the plaster cast of the statue of St. Vincent (raven on his shoulder). Next, removing the waste mold on St. Denis, revealing the plaster cast. Angel is then seen sculpting the full size St. Catherine in clay and then St. Lawrence. Next, there is the sculpting in clay of the niche statue above St. Lawrence. I do not know which saint or person this is supposed to be. It ends with more waste mold removal on St. Denis.
To View Video Click Here. Push back button to return to this post. The video is 13 minutes and 8 seconds.
The plaster casts were then handed over to the stone carvers. The Piccirilli Brothers carved many of the West Front statues during this period. The Ardolino Brothers may also have contributed some of these carvings.
St. Paul trumeau at the South Tower Portal 
Jamb Statues on Left side going in of the North Tower Portal by John Angel. Left to Right – St. Thomas a Becket, St. Catherine, St Stephen, St. Alban 
St. Peter, Trumeau (Center Post) of North Tower Portal by John Angel – Photo Tyko Kihlstedt 
Jamb Statues on the Right Side of the North Portal. Left to Right St. Lawrence,St. Vincent, St. Joan of Arc, St. Denis – Photo Robert F. Rodriguez 
Four horsemen of the Apocalypse by John Angel 
St. John by John Angel
- We are grateful to Wayne Kempton, Cathedral and Diocesan Archivist, for providing the digital videos.
2 replies on “More John Angel Videos”
I may be able to shed some light here.
As for the relief sculptures in video 1, the first one depicts Christ before Pilate (the bald guy). It is in the north portal. The Nativity shown in the film is more elaborate than the one Angel did for the south portal. It may be an earlier version of it, or perhaps a piece he did for a different project altogether.
The figure above St Lawrence seen in the video 2 is the sibyl Cimmeria. Sibyls were oracles, priestesses of Apollo who prophesied at holy sites around the ancient Greek-speaking world. Some of their prophecies were preserved and gathered into books. Christian scholars who studied the Sibylline Books during the revival of classical antiquity in the Renaissance imagined they had discovered prophecies of the New Testament in these pre-Christian writings, just as they found foreshadowings of the New Testament in the writings of the Hebrew prophets. Sibyls appear in Renaissance art, often accompanying the Hebrew prophets, most famously in Michelangelo’s frescoes for the Sistine Chapel.
The upper rank of the north portal depicts eight of the twelve sibyls, identified below by their names and attributes and listed in order beginning with the panel above St Thomas Becket and proceeding clockwise to the panel above St Denis:
Cumaea (sponge) – Jesus given a sponge filled with vinegar while on the cross
Europa (sword) – Herod’s slaughter of the innocents
Agrippa (scourge) – the scourging of Jesus by Roman soldiers
Libyica (torch) – Christ the light of the world
Cimmeria (horn) – Jesus nursed by Mary (the horn was the baby bottle of the ancient world)
Hellespontica (cross) – the crucifixion
Phrygia (banner) – the resurrection
Persica (dragon) – Christ’s victory over Satan, sin and death
Some of John Angel’s sibyls appear with the books of their prophecies.
Not depicted in the north portal: Erythraea, Samia, Tiburtina, Delphica.
Tom Fedorek
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