Professor Butter Beard and the Byzantine “Archangel Michael”
“I’m flying…..
Heading far out of sight
Second star to the right
Now the way is clear
Neverland is near
Follow all the air
Cause I’m about to disappear
I’m flying!”
- Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, written for “Peter Pan,” 1954
For the past three nights, I have been flying in my dreams. Not on an airplane, or a bobsled across all this fresh snow, but directly out my bedroom window, arms fully outstretched, with no apparent pre-determined destination. Just aiming for the pink and purple glow of dawn. Giggling with the setting Cheshire Cat crescent moon and dancing a do-si-do with the morning star. For three nights in a row.
I have no explanation and I am not prone to re-occurring dreams. I just hope that Nellie also received an over-generous dusting of Tinker Bell’s fairy dust. She would hate to miss this journey!
One possible connection is my reading up earlier this week on Byzantine Art before lecturing on the topic in just a few weeks. And one of my favorite Byzantine pieces is all about St. Michael the archangel, gently hovering over an elegant staircase, his wings at rest before they engage with the twilight wind and carry him into our world.
In 330 CE, the emperor Constantine adopted Christianity and moved his capital from Rome to the strategically located Greek town at the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire named Byzantium (renamed Constantinople and later re-named again to modern-day Istanbul). Christianity flourished and gradually supplanted the Greco-Roman gods that had once defined Roman religion and culture. This religious shift dramatically affected the art and architecture that was created across the empire.
Byzantine artists preferred stylized imagery over naturalistic depictions. The aim of their art was to inspire a sense of wonder and admiration for the church. In this way, their use of graceful, floating figures emphasized the otherworldliness of the religious subjects such as in this example of the archangel Michael, carved from the tusk of an Egyptian elephant, and one of the largest surviving carved ivories from the Byzantine Empire.
As evidenced through the drilled attachment holes, the ivory panel is one half of a diptych plaque. Byzantine scholars believe it may have been paired with a missing panel depicting the emperor Justinian, who they suggest commissioned the work around 525 CE from an imperial workshop in Constantinople. The inscription above the arch is translated as a prayer: “Receive these gifts, and having learned the cause…,” which would probably have continued on the missing leaf with a plea to forgive the owner’s sins, a possible reference to Justinian’s humility.
The archangel “stands” at the top of a flight of six steps under an elaborately carved triumphant arch with exquisite acanthus, volute and rosette ornaments all supported by fluted columns with Roman Corinthian capitals. His figure is depicted in a highly classical style, wearing Greek or Roman garb and with a youthful face and proportions conforming to the ideals of classical sculpture. But it is the drapery of the cloth of his robe that proclaims the talents of the sculptor – the cloth clings to the angel’s body as if he just flew through the morning rain and now gently hovers just over the staircase.
In this depiction, the power the archangel heralds is not of this world, nor does he inhabit an earthly space. The niche he occupies has lost all three dimensional reality. From the ankles down, he seems to be situated between and behind the two columns. Yet, from his knees up through his resting wings, he occupies the space in front of them.
“Look at me! I’m flying!”
All this nocturnal exercise inspired me to create something as light as the wind and sumptuous enough to tempt an archangel on a mission. I decided upon an Angel Food Cake, the lightest of all cakes and fully open to subtle inventive flavors and textures. By lightly toasting both the almond flour and almond slivers and adding a generous tablespoon of vanilla paste, the flavors open their wings and take flight in every bite. Just think of lovely things, and your heart will fly on wings, forever in Never Never Land.
Toasted Almond Angel Food Cake
4 Tbsp almond flour (I prefer Bob’s Red Mill)
6 Tbsp almond slivers
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar, divided
2 cups egg whites, about 14 eggs
1 tsp cream or tartar, dissolved in 1 tsp warm water
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 Tbsp vanilla paste
1 tsp almond extract
1) In a cast iron pan, toast the almond flour and almond slices, stirring often until they are aromatic and golden in color. Remove them from the pan and cool completely. (I place mine directly from the pan onto a parchment-lined sheet and pop them in the freezer briefly to fully cool.)
2) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
3) In a food processor, pulse 1 cup of the granulated sugar, the toasted and cooled almond flour and almonds, and 1 cup of all-purpose flour to a fine grind. Set aside.
4) In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites at medium-high until foamy, about 1 minute. With the mixer running, add the cream of tartar (dissolved in 1 tsp of warm water) and sea salt. Increase the mixer to high and slowly add the remaining 1 cup sugar until soft peaks form. Add in the vanilla paste and almond extract. Do not over mix – you want soft peaks.
5) Remove the bowl from the mixer and using a large balloon whisk (or French whisk), fold in the flour mixture in 4 additions until just combined. Pour the batter into an ungreased removable-bottom tube pan.
6) Bake on the center rack until the cake is golden and firm to the touch – about 35-40 minutes. Immediately invert the pan and let it cool completely. This may take up to two hours. Using an offset spatula, loosen the cake from the sides of the pan, remove the cake and cut to release the bottom. Invert your cake onto a cake pan.
