ATHENS--The Georgia Museum of Art will host "Angels," a collection of angelic images from its permanent collection and lending institutions, on view from Dec. 2 to Jan. 21.

This holiday exhibit, enhanced by special events on Dec. 13 and 16, features works of art from the 15th through the 20th centuries in media including sculpture, oil painting, etching, woodcut and bronze.

"There has been an apparent resurgence of fascination with angels as we approach the end of the millenium, but interest has never really diminished," said Bonnie Ramsey, curator of "Angels." "In this exhibition, we have tried to tap into the compelling relationship between man and divinity, and capture the different interpretations of angels through the centuries."

Additional events include a concert of Elizabethan Christmas music on Wednesday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m., which will include such classics as "Greensleeves" along with lesser known works. The concert is free, but space is limited.

Family Day at the museum will be held Saturday, Dec. 16, at 10 a.m. Titled "An Angelic Encounter" the event will include a tour of the "Angels" exhibition as well as a workshop led by student assistant Lesli

Terrell where families and children will make their own angel sculptures. Family day is free and open to the public.

The "Angels" exhibition will include pieces on loan such as Girolamo da Santacroce's "The Annunciation," from the collection of Hollins College in Roanoke, Va. "The Annunciation" has seldom been exhibited in the past 50 years, and will be one of the special features of the exhibition.

On loan from Bob Jones University are a pair of six-foot-tall carved wood angels from a baroque altarpiece by Franz Schwanthaler and an 18th-century unattributed Spanish colonial painting of St. Michael.

From the Cheekwood Museum of Art in Nashville comes an "Italian Spill Vase" of Worcester porcelain. The San Antonio Museum of Art is lending "Flight Into Egypt" by 17th-century Mexican artist Juan Correa. From the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, Fla., is featured "La Jeunesse et l'Amour" by William Adolph Bouguereau.

The 20th century is represented by such contemporary artists as folk artist Howard Finster, with his wood cutout "Angels Love You," as well as illustrator Jean-Philippe DelHomme, whose gouache illustration for Barney's department store in New York is an example of the popularity of angels in contemporary culture.

Also representing the 20th century is Los Angeles-based artist Jill D'Angelica who was featured in Time when she placed 4,687 of her magenta angels around riot-torn Los Angeles in 1994. "The Annunciation," a bronze sculpture by the late William J. Thompson, former professor of art at the University of Georgia, illustrates the prominence of angel imagery in his career.

Athens-based artist Beverly Buchanan has lent two of her sculptures as well. A colorful painting by folk artist Rudolph Valentino Bostick features stylized angels painted in bold colors against a textured background of corrugated cardboard.

Items from the permanent collection include an engraving from the "Book of Job" illustrated by William Blake, the colorful lithograph "Hommage" by Marc Chagall, the woodcut "Tobias and the Angel" by Leonard Baskin and "Madonna in Glory" by Renaissance artist Luca Cambiaso.

"Angels" is free and open to the public. Hours at the Georgia Museum of Art, Georgia's state museum of art, are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The museum is located on the north campus of the University of Georgia at Athens.

For further information on the exhibition or the special programs, please call (706) 542-3255.