Image: “The Angel Ithuriel,” by Evelyn De Morgan, before 1900, in English Wikipedia … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithuriel#/media/File:Ithuriel_by_Evelyn_de_Morgan.jpg … public domain … DESCRIPTION: “Ithuriel by Evelyn de Morgan, oil [on canvas?], before 1900. ‘Ithuriel, as represented by Mrs. De Morgan, has just found Eve and the tempter. He is accompanied by cherubs, whose threefold azure wings are as a blue cloud surrounding him. He wears a soft raiment, bright with mother-of-pearl tones. The draperies round the waist and body are rose-coloured, and so are the sleeves. The three pairs of wings, very well poised and admirably handled, are crimson-hued, with touches of grey-green here and there. Ithuriel has light hair, is pale-faced, and the well-drawn hands are as delicate as they could be. It may be thought that this Ithuriel is too mild — too much like Shakespeare’s Oberon — to be in keeping with the terrific tragedy depicted in the first four books of the Paradise Lost. Eve, too, lovely as she is, seems to bear no likelihood of resemblance to Milton’s superb mother of mankind. But the picture has a sweet serene grace which should make us glad to accept from Mrs. De Morgan another Eve and another Ithuriel, true children of her own fancy.’ — W. Shaw Sparrow” … COMMENTS: When we are asleep at night, if we are sleeping alone, I find that is the most convenient time for Satan to fill our drowsy ears with bad advice. Satan is the Adversary of our dreamtime realm. Yet, the story goes, the prick of Ithuriel’s spear goads the Demonic realm into speedy departure from our sleeping minds. The word ‘Ithuriel’ means ‘discovery of God’; from that I feel the intention of the story is that our discovery of God is like a mighty spear to fend off the Adversary. –Alice B. Clagett