Spanish school; first half of the 17th century.

Spanish school; first half of the 17th century.
"St. Michael the archangel defeating the devil".
Carved wood, polychrome and gilded.
It presents faults and damages caused by xylophages.
Measurements: 96 x 57 x 36 cm.
In this high quality carving, the archangel Saint Michael presents an attire inspired by medieval chivalry. The sweetness of St. Michael's face contrasts with the aggressiveness of the devil's features, who agonizes under the feet of the saint. Patient, calm and with a calm gaze, he advances as if St. Michael were walking over the Devil, who is writhing with suffering. A profound idea in which good prevails over evil as if it were natural, as if it followed the logical and established order. The serenity shown by the archangel clashes with the baroque and excessive movement that usually have this type of compositions. He seems to take a step without flinching or presenting combat over an enemy he has already subdued. The devil, on the other hand, represents all the movement and gestures we are used to. From his broken posture he seems to try to avoid his fatal destiny using all the parts of his body.
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.