I was at the Accademia Museum in Venice again today and took a picture of part of Giovanni Bellini’s San Giobbe altarpiece (1487), of the wingless angels in the lower middle of the painting who make up a striking musical trio. This time I was impressed by the draperies of their clothing; the sheen and crisp rhythm  of the folds. When I was first studying art history you weren’t supposed to be impressed with such things; they distracted one from the social function of the work of art. ‘Formalism’ was a dirty word. No good Marxist worth their salt would think of noticing such a bourgeois detail. However, no longer being an academic, and since Marxism is now passé, I can now once again freely revel in it. I love the glance of the angel on the left, the one with the magnificent blue robes and impressive hair. What he’s looking at is hard to tell, the figure of Job, perhaps, who wears only a loin-cloth, though it seems to be of very costly iridescent shot silk. I guess if you’re only going to have one outfit, it should be a good one. Tarzan eat your heart out.