LOT 0361

Large Wing of a Triptych Showing the Archangel Michael

GREEK, 17TH CENTURY A.D.

27 1/2 x 15 in. (3.5 kg, 70 x 38 cm with frame).

Tempera on wood panel depicting the Archangel Michael standing on a red cushion in the guise of a guardian angel, holding a drawn sword in his right hand and a scabbard in his other hand; the face with a brown base, features formed in shades of tan and beige with white highlights on a terracotta and deep green background.

Acquired on the European art market.
Private collection, London, UK.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12844-240885.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

For a prototype icon see Buckton, R., Treasures of Byzantine Art and culture, London, 1994, fig.223.

Even after the fall of Constantinople, icons painted on wood remained the principal object of devotion for Orthodox Christians both within the former borders of Byzantium and wherever the commonwealth of the Eastern Roman Empire left its traces. The painted icons are still today used by the Orthodox for personal devotion, for display in churches on feast days, and to decorate the iconostasis (partition) of the church, i.e. the dividing wall erected in front of the Bema, where the sacred altar of the Apse is collocated. The Archangel Michael was the commander of the Heavenly Host, and venerated by military men and the common people as one of the most powerful protector saints.