# Gloria

- By: Thomas Wilmer Dewing (American, 1851–1938)
- Date: 1884
- Medium: gouache over graphite
- Classification: Drawing
- Dimensions: Sheet: 30.8 x 27.8 cm (12 1/8 x 10 15/16 in.); Image: 27 x 23 cm (10 5/8 x 9 1/16 in.)
- Culture: America
- Credit line: The Fanny Tewksbury King Collection
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1956.722)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/cma/1956.722/1956.722_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Dewing’s small, densely packed composition of four singing angels alludes to depictions of angels playing musical instruments found in 14th-century medieval manuscripts. Angels were traditionally shown playing stringed instruments, whose delicate tones were thought to lift the mind to spiritual matters. The harp, as depicted here, was the instrument most closely associated with heavenly music. With the continuous circling of halos and harps, Dewing suggested a hypnotic, celestial melody.