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1 of 253523 objects
The Archangel Michael expelling the rebel angels c.1587-90
Pen and ink, with white heightening, on brown prepared paper | 41.8 x 28.5 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 906934
Attributed to Giovanni Ambrogio Figino (1548/51-1608)
The Archangel Michael expelling the rebel angels c.1587-90
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A study of the Archangel Michael expelling the rebel angels.
St Michael leaps forward and is about to lower his sword on a demon below him. The figures of St Michael and the demon were quickly outlined, their main body structures only indicated with simple lines and white heightening. Only the general features of the surrounding demons were captured. On either side of St Michael, two much smaller studies of St Michael in different poses have been sketched.
This drawing might be connected to the painting of Madonna and Child, St John the Evangelist and the Archangel St Michael, now in the Brera in Milan. However, St Michael's pose and the number of the demons surrounding him differs significantly from the final painting, which makes is likely that Figino might have worked on two projects that involved St Michael or that he was exploring various options for the composition in this sheet and had not yet settled on his final composition. The smaller studies of the figure of St Michael were reused on the right in the painting at the Brera in Milan.
That Figino was very interested in the figure of St Michael in the act of striking a sword on a demon manifests in the sheer number of studies he made on this subject see RCINs 906934, 906935r, 906955, 906959r, 906965r and 906972.
Inscribed in pen at lower left: No 63Provenance
Bequeathed by the artist to Ercole Bianchi in 1608; in the collection of Consul Joseph Smith by 1755; purchased by George III in 1762. Recorded in 'Inventory A', p. 117: '110 Mostly sketches after the Old Masters Raphael, Michel Angelo &c.a.'
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Pen and ink, with white heightening, on brown prepared paper
Measurements
41.8 x 28.5 cm (sheet of paper)
Object type(s)
