Spinello Aretino, 'Saint Michael and Other Angels', about 1408-10
About the work
Overview
This fragment comes from a large painting in fresco – a technique that involved painting directly onto wet plaster – that showed the fall of Lucifer, the rebel angel who was cast out of heaven. It once decorated a wall of the church of the confraternity of Sant' Angelo in Arezzo. There are two other fragments in our collection.
Here we see Saint Michael the Archangel, who was the central figure in the fresco. His large wings, halo and armour identify him: he was one of the warrior angels. He raises his arm, ready to strike with his sword; we can see its hilt in his hand. He is supported by several other angels, also dressed in elaborate armour and bearing shields and spears.
We know from a nineteenth-century engraving of the fresco that Saint Michael is battling a seven-headed dragon, which is how Lucifer is described in the New Testament (Revelation 12: 3).
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Saint Michael and Other Angels
- Artist
- Spinello Aretino
- Artist dates
- born 1345-52; died 1410
- Part of the series
- Arezzo Fresco Fragments
- Date made
- about 1408-10
- Medium and support
- fresco with areas of secco, transferred to canvas
- Dimensions
- 116.2 × 170.2 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Sir A.H. Layard, 1886
- Inventory number
- NG1216.1
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
About the series: Arezzo Fresco Fragments
Overview
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.
Works in the series
More works by Spinello Aretino
