'Saint Michael defeating the devil'. Carved, gilded... Lot n° 15

'Saint Michael defeating the devil'. Carved, gilded and polychromed wooden sculpture. Castilian school. Renaissance. Late 16th century. Total measurements: 105 x 40 x 20 cm. A delicate sculptural group in a rounded shape depicting Saint Michael defeating the devil. The head of the heavenly militia stands, trampling Lucifer. His legs are open in an unstable position on the demon's body. There is a slight contrapposto created with his right leg, and the serpentine line which the archangel's body seems to form, which is a typically Renaissance detail. The power that the sculpture conveys, especially palpable in its musculature, in the immutability of the face, in the grandeur of its composition, and in specific details such as the bent right arm, or the carving of the torso, indicates that this is the work of a Romanist or late Romanist. Saint Michael’s right arm is raised very elegantly, with rolled up sleeves, a detail that allows us to see his bare arms. In his left hand, with remarkable energy and character, he holds a sharp spear that he is about to plunge into the demon to finally vanquish him. In his left hand he holds an oval shield decorated with targas made with leather cuts, and in the central part of which there is a red heraldic cross on a gold background. The saint's face once again reveals great mastery, since the sculptor has meticulously conceived fine facial features and hair in the shape of a cap made up of an abundance of curved asymmetrical loops. The rounded head has open, slanted eyes, straight eyebrows, an elongated nose, a nasolabial fold, and a tiny mouth with thick closed lips that seem to make a grimace. At his feet is a devil burning in the flames of hell, portrayed half-length and with a grim gesture and frowning brow that is a combination of a human body with grotesque features and goat's horns. The saint is dressed as a warrior, clearly in the role of the head of God’s army. He wears a cuirass with a gilded square neck, from which a series of bangles hang, in the style of Roman armour, very close to the body so that the anatomy is marked; he wears hose and a flowing golden cloak that brings dynamism to the sculpture as it hangs from the back and covers the left shoulder – the right one being left naked – it drops down the back, twists over the front part of the left thigh and falls back round to the rear part to drop down to the devil. The arrangement of this cloak is not only ingenious, but also denotes the master sculptor’s excellent handling of the gouge. The excellent polychrome, which is mostly made up of golden tones, something that is likewise very typical of the Renaissance, increases the worth of the sculpture, which is already excellent from a technical point of view. This piece would certainly have been made by some highly skilled Castilian Romanist master of the late 16th century, or the beginning of the 17th century if it came from a less developed area where this style lasted for more decades than in the most advanced artistic milieus, which was the case of Burgos, for example, among many others. We would like to thank Javier Baladrón, PhD in Art History, for identifying and cataloguing this work.