3-040-072 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Harvest of Grapes, about 1255-1260. Additional Info:The angel with a sickle appears twice, once on the left coming out of the temple and again on the right cutting the grapes and dropping them into the "press of the wrath of God." The text elaborates that "blood comes out of the press, up to the horses' bridle," depicted on the far right of the miniature. The little beasts gleefully gathering the grapes as the angel drops them are not mentioned in the text and are not easily explained. Quote Text: And another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, it also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and it cried with a loud voice to the one that had the sharp sickle, saying: Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vineyard of the earth, because the grapes are ripe. (Apocalypse 14:17-18).