James sat quietly on the lawn chair, catching his breath. A thin trickle of sweat rolled down his forehead as I handed him the glass of ice tea. “What’s an angel?”, he asked.

I was a little startled by such a question from a mid-teen. His family had been our neighbors for his entire life, James had been mowing our lawn for several years and had never said much. Just when you think you know someone, the kid throws you a curve ball.

“Well” I said, striking my best philosophical pose. “An angel is a curious being that sits somewhere between God and man”, I offered. “No, not that kind of angel. My dad is talking about an angel that wants to invest in the company”.

“Ahh. . .” my brilliant streak continued. “An angel investor is an individual or a small group that invests in startup companies. There is a definite phase for angels. The evolution of most startups begins with the maxed credit card phase.  It continues with ‘friends and family’ making investments in the company. When this money is spent, the angel investors step in with investments that will allow for things like completion of a prototype, or initial production, or marketing, or whatever is needed to continue to develop a product. The ‘angel investor phase precedes the VC or venture capital phase which usually provides a serious amount of cash to help the company ramp up to meet continuing market demands. The goal of this process is IPO – when the startup goes public and the founders and all the other investors finally see some return on their investments.”

James waited patiently for my little monologue to end. He said thanks, his dad was so busy these days that he didn’t want to ask him such questions. James hurried off to his next lawn-mowing job, leaving me to think that an angel investor is not much different than the angels we are all used to. Arriving at the right moment, with an offer of real help, an angel can save the day when all hope seems to have evaporated. The angel investor doesn't sit between God and man; the angel investor sits between success and failure. At certain times, this can be pretty much the same.
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Bonnie and I have been absorbed in some video courses on European art. When tracing early European art, one quickly runs into representations of angels. There are as many types of angels as there are artists. And I have come to appreciate them all, even the images of the so-called fallen angels, usually found peering from holes and dark forest glades.

One sees collections of angels surrounding the Virgin enthroned, Nativity scenes, weeping angels around Jesus crucified. At first angels were chubby little things, putti really, I feel a device for bring humanity into the divine.

A good example is Duccio’s “Madonna and Child with Six Angels”. The focus is, rightly so, on Mary and Jesus. The angels sit quietly on the periphery, praising, loving, quiet.

The type of angels that I love the most are the “working” angels, angels sent for specific purposes, to do a job.

As an example, look at Sandro Botticelli’s Gabriel in the Cestello Annunciation. Gabriel knows his job, Mary recoils, feeling her unworthiness, but Gabriel is determined. Jaw set, he soldiers on and we know the outcome.



In the now-lost “Matthew and the Angel”, Caravaggio delights us with his version of an angel.
Sent to help Matthew write his Gospel, the angel patiently guides Matthew’s hand.
The contrast between Matthew and his angel is stunning. Matthew is a common man, dirty feet and all,
trying to get it all down on paper. The angel is sinuous and patient, working hard to make sure nothing is lost.

The first “Matthew and the Angel” was rejected by the patrons, Matthew being too common. I guess a Gospel writer should be a little slicker.

Caravaggio responded with a second Matthew and the Angel, “The Inspiration of St Matthew”.
This painting continues to show dirty feet but the angel is still hard at work, counting the details on his fingers.



We conclude this little excursion into angeldom with a lush painting by the Flemish artist, Jan Van Eyck.
An angelic choir, hard at work, raise their voices to the heavens.

No slackers these. They earn their keep.