Weeping angel, Marble statue in Amiens, France

The Weeping Angel is a marble putto on the mausoleum of canon Guilain Lucas in Amiens Cathedral, carved by Nicolas Blasset in 1636. Seated with legs crossed, it rests its right elbow on a skull and its right hand against its tilted head, while the left hand holds a downward-pointing torch; the eyes are closed and the mouth open in a crying expression.

The Weeping Angel was carved in 1636 by Nicolas Blasset, an Amiens sculptor who worked for the cathedral from 1630 to 1659. It adorns the mausoleum of canon Guilain Lucas de Genville, chaplain to the King and founder of an orphan school, who died on 18 August 1628. Tradition holds that the angel was not part of the initial design: a financial dispute with the cathedral chapter led Blasset to add it for payment.

The angel stands between a kneeling Canon Guilain Lucas and a Virgin and Child, representing the grief of the orphans of the École des enfants bleus, the charity school he founded. From the 17th century, Amiens residents admired this lower, more accessible cherub over the two wingless cherubs on the pediment. In the 19th century, local notables had copies placed on their own family tombs; Christine Debrie recorded seven at La Madeleine cemetery in Amiens and one at Saint-Aignan in Grivesnes.

The statue sits in the ambulatory of Amiens Cathedral, behind the high altar and facing the axial chapel entrance, above the recumbent figure of Cardinal de La Grange. Look for it in the upper part of the Guilain Lucas mausoleum, which is stacked over two earlier tombs. A plaster copy stands in the north transept of the church of Bovelles, and a copy of 1874 by Gédéon de Forceville crowns the Blasset monument on the Place du Maréchal-Joffre roundabout.

The angel was not part of the original design: tradition holds that Nicolas Blasset added it after a financial dispute with the cathedral chapter, for payment. The two other cherubs on the pediment have no wings; only this one, set lower and closer to visitors, drew admiration from the 17th century.