Offered by Galerie FC Paris
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Oil on copper circa 1590-1600
Presented in a handsome 17th-century Flemish frame in blackened pearwood with inverted profile and guilloche moldings.
Total dimensions: 47 x 42 cm. Copper: 22.5 x 17.5 cm
This representation of St. Michael the Archangel has its roots in a work by the late Mannerist Flemish painter and draughtsman Marten de Vos (Antwerp, 1532 - 1603). This work was engraved by Hieronymus Wierix (Antwerp, 1553-1619), and its distribution had a major iconographic impact across Europe. It also had international repercussions, as it is represented in Cuautitlán Cathedral, Mexico.
The painting we present here takes up the formal characteristics of de Vos' drawing, showing Saint Michael striking down the devil, who is depicted as a hybrid being (half-human, half-demon) with a snake's tail - standing with his hands crossed over his body, in an undefined setting that appears celestial thanks to the clouds we glimpse.
The composition is dynamic and scenographic, with the Saint standing, occupying most of the pictorial surface, holding in his right hand a lantern with the inscription "Quis ut Deus", a Latin phrase meaning "Who is your God?" and which refers directly to the iconography of Saint Michael the Archangel, being even the translation of the name Michael from Hebrew.
The finesse of this brightly colored composition and its rare framing make it a precious and refined object for this small private devotional painting.
Very good condition.
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