Cherubim Guarding Entrance to Garden of Eden by Giusto de Menabuoi, ca. 1377


Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus




Sistine Madonna by Raphael, 1513-1514

During those centuries, though, the small chubby ones were known as putti -- from the Latin word putus (boy), and then the Italian word putto (also boy), and finally the plural, putti. Pudgy little spiritual beings with wings, putti were not necessarily infants, nor young, nor even male, despite their name and appearance. The meaning and interpretation of the putti in some classical imagery was much more akin to a thought or an emotion or a psychological event that is given a physical form, so that we can see it in action. Although today we assume that the way in which they were depicted was meant to indicate “not adult,” it was actually meant to read as “not human.” They sometimes acted as guardian spirits or aided other important players in the classical pantheon, such as Eros, or cupid. In other classical imagery, they seem to serve mostly as a decorative element, cavorting in droves amongst grapevines or up in the sky amongst the clouds.

Their adoption into Christian iconography began as the fledgling faith started to spread in the classical world. The two sets of iconography, Christian and classical, appear side by side circa the time of Constantine. The sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, a senator who died in 359 AD and converted to Christianity shortly before his death (or on his deathbed), shows the emergence of Christian scenes such as the sacrifice of Isaac and Jesus before Pontius Pilate on the sides of the sarcophagus, but also shows putti on the end panels harvesting grain and grapes. The same is true of the church now known as Santa Costanza, the mausoleum of Contantine’s daughter Constantina, built between 337 and 361 AD. Mosaics there showed biblical scenes portrayed above a marine landscape populated with putti. It was only a matter of time before early Christian symbols started to be based upon the well known classical models, where, for example, a young Orpheus might be interpreted as Christ. Even as late as the 13th century, putti were used to decorate Christian buildings in a classical sense, as in Donatello’s Cavalcanti altar, where they represented the emotions that overwhelm Mary when Gabriel announces Jesus’ imminent birth to her. From these types of early uses, it was a small step into mainstream Christian iconography of angels.

We have the Babylonian word kirubu to thank for the modern word cherub. It was the ancient Persians, Assyrians, and Babylonians who first developed a complex collective of guardian and helper spirits. The kirubu in particular enjoyed being intimate with God, welcome in his presence, and they were especially protective of believers. In Hebrew, the word became kerub or kerubim in plural. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is the one of the earliest translations of the bible into English (the Vulgate by Wyclif) where the word cherub is first introduced. From the beginning, however, the physical appearance of cherubim or cherubs has been inconsistent (two wings or four, one face or four), when it’s been discussed at all.

It is not until 1705 and the british dramatist Thomas Otway, in The Oprhan, that the word cherub is used to refer to an innocent and beautiful child. Perhaps by his time putti in Christian artwork, with their apparently youthful innocence and their wings, had been fully reinterpreted as angels. Or perhaps Otway was simply using the word to mean something generically angelic. In either event, the word cherub became the name of the small childlike angels with which we are familiar today. Unless tattoo artwork is drawn specifically from classical imagery, cherub tattoos are almost certainly meant to portray angels. Since drums, flutes, harps, and lutes are among the oldest instruments, it is not unusual for music-making cherubs to hold these them. However, they don’t make music for the sake of music. They are mostly likely making music as a form of praise.