The Face Of An Angel, The Voice Of A Slurring Drunk

Let's pretend for a second that you're a famous Norwegian  sculptor who has been asked to help rebuild one of the most famous Gothic churches in your country. You have been commissioned to design the sculpture for the Archangel Michael who will stand atop the Northwest Tower.  You have it fully designed and it's pretty incredible, but you're left with trying to decide on a face for your archangel.  Do you make one up?  Do you follow the ancient tradition of using a living person as inspiration (Michelangelo is known to have used the faces of his critics as inspiration for his paintings, often depicting them being dragged into Hell)?

Well, if you were Kristofer Leirdal, a Norwegian sculptor who was asked to help rebuild the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Noway, you decide to follow the classical inspiration and give it the face of someone fitting.  The Archangel Michael is often used as an image for the triumph of good over evil, so Kristofer picked someone that he saw as an embodiment of peace and goodness.  Who better to represent that than a modern poet who spoke out against war and in favour of civil rights?  In this particular instance, the Vietnam War.  The poet in question?  Bob Dylan.  Musician, poet, civil rights activist and war protester.

Peace-loving, but angrily so.

Of course, Kristofer didn't make the inspiration for his Michael known for quite a while, but he made it known earlier in the decade and it's now a well-known fact amongst the hardcore fans of Bob Dylan, as well as the hardcore fans of Norwegian cathedral sculptures.

And now by you too.

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Sources:
Image of Bob Dylan circa 1969 taken from UKRockFestivals.com Isle Of Wight 1969 Bob Dylan concert page
Image of the Trondheim archangel Michael taken from Urmeant2b's Flickr photostream
Images cropped and put together by me
Svenska Dagbladet article about Trondheim - Google does a reasonable job translating it
Trondheim tourist information website, Nidaros Cathedral page - English option available
Nidaros Catherdral website - no English option available, Google does a terrible job
MonstersAndCritics.com article on Trondheim
Wikipedia page on Kristofer Leirdal
Wikipedia articles on Nidaros Cathedral and its West Front