Spanish school of the 17th century and later

Spanish school of the 17th century and later.
"Archangel St. Michael".
Carved and polychrome wood.
Presents faults.
Measurements: 106 x 64 x 46 cm.

Wood carving representing the archangel St. Michael in full body, dressed in armor. He raises his right hand, in which he would brandish a sword with which he would be ready to finish off the devil (in this sculpture not represented). This is a dynamic and naturalistic work, with a classic work of anatomy. According to tradition, St. Michael is the head of the heavenly militia and defender of the Church. Precisely for this reason he fights against the rebellious angels and the dragon of the Apocalypse. He is also psychopomp, that is to say, he leads the dead and weighs the souls on the day of the Last Judgment. Scholars have linked his cult to that of several gods of antiquity: Anubis in Egyptian mythology, Hermes and Mercury in classical mythology, and Wotan in Norse mythology. In the West, the cult of St. Michael began to develop from the 5th and 6th centuries, first in Italy and France, and then spreading to Germany and the rest of Christendom. The kings of France gave him a particular veneration from the 14th century, and the Counter-Reformation made him the head of the church against the Protestant heresy, giving a new impulse to his cult. St. Michael the Archangel is therefore a military saint, and therefore patron saint of knights and of all trades related to arms, as well as to the scales, for his role as apocalyptic judge.