Spinello Aretino, 'Saint Michael and Other Angels', about 1408-10
Arezzo Fresco Fragments
These three paintings are fragments of a much larger work in fresco, a technique that involved painting directly on to wet plaster. The whole image showed the fall of Lucifer, the rebel angel who was cast out of heaven and associated with the devil in Christian thought.
The fresco decorated a wall in the church of the confraternity of Sant'Angelo, Arezzo. Its original appearance is recorded in engravings and drawings made in the nineteenth century.
The large fragment shows Saint Michael the Archangel ready to strike Lucifer, while two smaller ones come from the border of the work and show a band of figures set within decorative shapes.These fragments were purchased in 1855 by the archaeologist and explorer Austen Henry Layard, and presented to the National Gallery in 1886. Layard was a founder of the Arundel Society, which aimed to document frescoes in Italian churches and palaces through drawings and art-historical descriptions.
These three paintings are fragments of a much larger work in fresco, a technique that involved painting directly onto wet plaster. The whole image showed the fall of Lucifer, the rebel angel whose pride caused him to be cast out of heaven. He was often associated with the devil in Christian thought.
The fresco, by Spinello Aretino, decorated a wall in the church of the confraternity of Sant'Angelo, Arezzo, which was also known as the Chiesa del Diavoli. Its original appearance is recorded in engravings and drawings made in the nineteenth century.
The large fragment shows Saint Michael the Archangel ready to strike the devil, while two smaller ones come from the border of the work and show a band of figures set within decorative shapes. They were purchased in 1855 by the archaeologist and explorer Austen Henry Layard, who presented them to the National Gallery in 1886, when he was a trustee. Layard was a founder of the Arundel Society, which aimed to document frescoes in Italian churches and palaces through drawings and art-historical descriptions.
More paintings by Spinello Aretino
