AtD translation: picked up a minor angel

[Mark Kohut]

I think it means "a boyish object of gay desire"...that sacristan...

On Mon, Jun 1, 2026 at 9:46 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thanks, Joseph. "A minor work depicting an angel" seems to make the most
> sense.
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 1, 2026 at 9:33 PM Joseph Tracy <coypoet at mailfence.com> wrote:
>
> > Unless an actual line from Rilke can be produced I would be skeptical,
> > neither my browser search nor AI search turned up this phrase. Angels
> > are a frequent topic of painting, particularly from this period. Many
> > are youthful( or outright babies with wings called cherubs) so that is
> > one possibility. Also it could refer to a minor work depicting an angel,
> > 'minor" being  a frequently used term to apply to a less important
> > painting. That interpretation seems the safest since it leaves other
> > possibilities of interpretation open.
> >    One of those other interpretations is that the minor angel represents
> > a  boyish object of  gay desire.  Rilke's famous angel poem could also
> > be seen this way and he had many gay friends. Not a Rilke fan, so
> > definitely could have missed such a phrase.
> >
> > On 5/13/26 10:55 AM, Mike Jing wrote:
> > > P725.20-29   UP HERE IN NORTH ITALY, as in France one might buy
> ordinary
> > > village wine hoping to find a few cases of overrun from a great
> vineyard
> > > nearby, Vibe’s theory was to buy all the school-of-Squarciones he could
> > put
> > > his hands on in the hopes that someplace in there might be an
> > unattributed
> > > Mantegna somebody had overlooked. It was the current fashion to
> > disrespect
> > > the painting skills of the famed Paduan collector and impresario
> himself,
> > > so any actual Squarciones kicking around, including embroideries and
> > > tapestries (for he had begun his working life as a tailor), would be
> > going
> > > for a song. In fact, Scarsdale had already picked up a minor angel just
> > by
> > > singing “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away” to a sacristan who might
> > > have been insane.
> > >
> > > What does "a minor angel" refer to here exactly?
> > > --
> > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>