The Archangel Michael
Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 - 1642) Follower of
17th-18th century
Oil on canvas (134 x 96 cm - Framed 147 x 108 cm.)
Details of the work (click HERE)
The work in question, of excellent quality and condition, is a reproduction of Guido Reni's famous altarpiece with Saint Michael the Archangel, created in 1635 for the Church of the Capuchins in Rome (photo 1 **), built through the donation of Cardinal Antonio Barberini (1569-1646), brother of Urban VIII.
The great painter went to Rome in 1602, after intensive training in Bologna, soon becoming a renowned interpreter of the taste of the most influential cultural circles, and securing the protection of great figures such as Popes Paul V, Urban VIII, and Scipione Borghese.
The painting portrays the majestic figure of Saint Michael, the Archangel engaged here in the struggle against Evil, represented as a young man of rare beauty, strong and delicate at the same time, who, with drawn sword, repels an irritated devil into hell, whose head he crushes with his foot. The soft drapery envelops the angel's body with intense classicism, where a balanced composition directs the viewer's attention to his angelic face.
Great was the recognition and esteem of his contemporaries, and the painting immediately enjoyed incredible success, also thanks to the controversies it provoked from the Pamphili, a family always at odds with the Barberini, the commissioners of the canvas. Reni, upon learning that Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pamphili, the future Pope Innocent X, had defamed him, impersonated the Devil with the latter's face in revenge.
Guido Reni's cunning was to exploit the historic rivalry between two of the most influential families in 17th-century Rome for his personal revenge, while at the same time bestowing sudden celebrity upon his work.
Reni undertook the execution of this subject on several occasions, highly appreciated by his patrons, thanks to the formality and compositional balance, elements that make it one of the cornerstones of Roman classicism to this day.
With the help of his workshop, he used to return to the same subjects multiple times, producing versions of his most successful compositions, which makes it difficult to distinguish between workshop replicas, often enhanced by his intervention, or posthumous copies that become independent reinterpretations by some of his best students or followers.
**Saint Michael the Archangel, 1635 - Guido Reni (Bologna, 1575 - 1642)
Oil on silk; 295x202 cm
Rome, Church of Santa Maria Immacolata Concezione
Link: https://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/entry/work/59868/
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The painting is sold complete with a gilded frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic sheet.
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