A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in Ancient Judaism. In Christianity, the hierarchy of angels was extensively developed in the 5th century by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. The theology of angels and tutelary spirits has undergone many changes since the 5th century. The belief is that guardian angels serve to protect whichever person God assigns them to.
Icon of a guardian angel
Guardian Angel by Pietro da Cortona, 1656
A guardian angel in a 19th-century print by Fridolin Leiber
Guarding angel on a c. 100-year-old tankard
In Abrahamic religious traditions and some sects of other belief-systems like Hinduism and Buddhism, an angel is a heavenly supernatural or spiritual being. In monotheistic belief-systems, such beings are under service of the supreme deity.
The Archangel Michael wears a Roman military cloak and cuirass in this 17th-century depiction by Guido Reni.
Schutzengel (English: "Guardian Angel") by Bernhard Plockhorst depicts a guardian angel watching over two children.
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, by Gustave Doré in 1855
The Wounded Angel, Hugo Simberg, 1903, voted Finland's "national painting" in 2006