Angels musicians - France 17th century

Carved wood, formerly polychromed.
Angel musicians seem to have been present in churches since time immemorial, yet their appearance only dates back to the height of the Gothic period in the 13th century. Their instruments symbolize praise and are the means of carrying the divine word.
We find these painted or sculpted angel musicians first in the Marian representations (Annunciation, Virgin and Child, Coronation and Assumption of the Virgin) and then progressively on Christ himself. Thus the "Christ in glory" is in turn surrounded by angel musicians as in the Altarpiece of San Domenico of Fiesole painted by Fra Angelico around 1430 where a crowd of angels playing music appears.
Made of a wood species prized by sculptors, pine cembro, our angels with youthful faces, one holding a trumpet and the second playing a lute, were probably detached from an altarpiece celebrating a religious scene. Traces of plaster show that they were polychrome. French work of the 17th century, 50 and 51 cm.