Text and Composition Study, The Angel of Victory Triptych
Datec. 1941
Artist
Violet Oakley
(American painter and illustrator, 1874–1961)
MediumInk on paper
Dimensions5 5/8 × 4 3/8 in. (14.3 × 11.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 2012
Object number2012-17
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextInitially Oakley chose the Apostle Paul’s words at the end of Romans, Chapter 8 as her inscription for The Angel of Victory, comparing the American troops to emboldened “conquerors” in a spiritual army, and their military campaigns abroad to a greater battle against the forces of evil. As this biblical passage also attests, Oakley saw the war as one that could not be lost, for, as Paul writes, “neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation” can overcome the power and love of God.
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