A group is a rank of its own

The title does not name an angel; it names a group of them. That plural is the ordinary condition of angels in Western painting — the chorus, the attendant band, the crowd that fills the upper register — and it is a hierarchical statement, not merely a count. Individuals in this tradition get names and offices. Groups get a collective noun and a position.

What the record holds

The catalogue carries no date for this entry and gives Correggio, a Italian painter, with High Renaissance as the style term. The recorded dimensions are 164.3 x 115.6 cm. The measured colour family is ochre. The location on record is Musée des beaux-arts de Chambéry, Chambéry, France.

What the record leaves out

The catalogue carries no date for this entry, which is a real gap and worth naming rather than smoothing over. The record does file it under Portraits, Group and Religion, with High Renaissance as the style term, and it is this painter's only appearance in the 224 works gathered here. The title's reference to Corrège is the French form of the painter's own name, so the entry is describing a group of angels by that hand rather than a work about a person called Corrège.