Chapterhead: angel, or truth breaking freedetails

Chapterhead: angel, or truth breaking free

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A female winged figure, topless, holds a sword inone hand and a flaming torch in the other. Her hair is flowing with wind, as is her billowing skirt, and her mouth is open. From iron manacles on her wrists dangle broken chains, and she is stepping towards us through a portal to the stars.

To one side a collection of symbols: Lex (Latin for the law), a kilng’s crown and sceptre, Jesus on a cross.

To the other side a shield with armorial (heraldic) symbols, another flaming torch, a shadowy figure holding a bundle of sticks.

The winged lady, barefoot, represents virtue or truth breaking free, and perhaps the symbols on the sides represent the things that have set her free, rather than the things keeping her chained.

This rectangular engraving was used at the top of the page at the start of a chapter: a chapterhead. The purpose of these is partly to make it easy to find chapter beginnings in printed books, by flipping through the pages quickly. It’s also partly to set context and mood for the chapter.

angels, liberation, wings, nudity, people, women, swrods, weapons, manacles, fetters, chains, symbols, justics, law, chapterheads

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2314 dots per inch (approximately)