"Saint Michael" Carved, gilded and polychromed wooden sculpture. Sculpted by a master [...]

"Saint Michael" Carved, gilded and polychromed wooden sculpture.Sculpted by a master from the area of Swabia in the South of Germany, Lake Constance and the South of the Tyrol. Circa 1470 - 1490.Majestic sculpture, which has arrived to the current time in a magnificent state of preservation. Cronologically, in our opinion, the sculpture should be dated to the final decades of the 15th century. With regard to its provenance, we believe that it must hail from the marvellous artistic tradition which appeared in the area known as Swabia in the South of Germany, Lake Constance and the South of the Tyrol. With regard to possible artists, in our opinion the examples which most resemble our Saint Michael were made by Michael Pacher (Falzes, ca. 1435 - Salzburgo, 1498), Niklaus Weckmann (Ulm, active circa 1481 - 1526) whose magnificent “Christ en prière” is kept at the Musée du Louvre in Paris; Hans Klocker (pre 1474 to post 1500) a Gothic sculptor active in the South of the Tyrol and with sculptures such as the “Saint George” at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam attributed to his circle; and also Jörg Lederer (Füssen or Kaufbeuren, 1470 – Kaufbeuren circa 1550) whose sculptures such as “Saint John” and “Mary Magdalene” are kept at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, and Hans Geiler, active in Freiburg circa 1500, whose marvellous “Mary Magdalene” is kept at the Musée d’art et d’histoire, Freibourg.As well as the artist´s mastery, the great beauty and pure aesthetic quality of the sculpture has to be highlighted, as well as the elegance of its movement and its soft gaze which is slightly melancholy, which the sculptor wanted to express and which arrives to us intact as all its original polychrome is preserved. The artist presents us with a young, handsome and triumphant Saint Michael, without any trace of harshness and with an almost feminine face, with large locks of curly hair falling at both sides of his face. Also, the armour, shoes and cape, which is embroidered with some kind of lace edging, and his other clothing, show enormous sculptural quality. Unfortunately, only a fragment of the devil that used to be at the archangel´s feet remains, although this does not detract one iota from the greatness of this sculpture. 110 x 44 x 24 cm.