The Archangel Michael Defeating Satan
Artist/Maker
DatesMade: Made probably 17th century
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 44 x 33 cm h x w x d: Ram 57 x 47 x 6 cm
Inventory numberNM 77
AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum (Martelli 1804)
Other titlesTitle (sv): Ärkeängeln Mikael besegrar Satan Title (en): The Archangel Michael Defeating Satan
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 79: FORMER INV. NOS.: 149 (M. 1796–97); 38 (F. 1798); 99 (M. 1804); KM 930. TECHNICAL NOTES: The support consists of a medium-coarse, densely woven, plain-weave linen fabric. It has been lined with glue and mounted with staples on a Martelli strainer. The tacking edges are cropped. The ground is red-brown. The paint layer is heavily cracked, with a few retouches along the edges. The varnish is yellowed. The painting is in fair condition. Documented restoration: 1924: Cleaning, removal of varnish and damage caused by water. PROVENANCE: Martelli 1804. BIBLIOGRAPHY: NM Cat. 1867, p. 6 (as Niccolò Circignani, called il Pomarancio); Sander 1872–76, III, p. 101, no. 99 (as Pomarancio); NM Cat. 1958, p. 233 (as anonymous, 17th century); NM Cat. 1990, p. 420 (as anonymous, 17th century). This painting was attributed to Cristoforo Roncalli, called Pomarancio (1551–1626), both by Martelli and by Corvi and Tofanelli.¹ In 1589 Roncalli was commissioned by Orazio Rucellai to paint frescoes for four chapels in the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle.² Orazio was a member of the famous Rucellai family of Florence, and possibly he wanted a Tuscan artist to decorate his chapel. It is likely that Roncalli was introduced to him by Virgilio Crescenzi, who was also patron of a chapel in the church. However, work on Rucellai’s chapel did not begin until 1603. It was completed in September 1605, after Rucellai had died and was entombed in the chapel. Unfortunately, there are only a few remnants of Roncalli’s decorations in situ today: at the beginning of the 18th century the whole cycle deteriorated, possibly because, as it seems, it was painted in oils on stucco. Amongst the lost masterpieces is his famous altarpiece of the subject most favoured as a symbol of the Counter-Reformation, St Michael Defeating the Demons. This painting was held in the highest esteem throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, but its influence on later artists’ interpretations of the subject, such as those of Guido Reni and Luca Giordano, seems constantly to have been forgotten or ignored.³ Fortunately, though, an engraving executed in 1618 after Roncalli’s lost altarpiece can help us to understand something of the power of the original.⁴ Two preparatory drawings relating to the painting also survive. In the studies, Roncalli “elaborates on observations made directly from the model”,⁵ with the aim of perfecting the interplay of characters and harmonizing the composition. One of the drawings contains studies for the demons. The other drawing must be quite a late study, as it shares the general characteristics of St Michael in the engraving, which seems to be a faithful adaptation of the lost painting. The pose of the nude, covered in part by an undulating cape, was influenced by Raphael, but it has been suggested that the composition partly derives from an engraving after a drawing of the Fall of Icarus by Giuseppe Cesari.⁶ In the study, St Michael holds in his right hand the traditional lance, while in the engraving he brandishes a bundle of bright flames, with his arm raised higher. This permits him to advance unhindered into the foremost plane of the composition, without the lance diminishing the imposing forward gesture. Roncalli was greatly interested in sculpture and perhaps this made him strive for an almost tangible three-dimensionality in the figure’s reach in the painting. His execution of the lower part of the torso of St Michael was most probably influenced by the Laocoön. To some extent, this could also be true of the dramatic juxtapositions of the demons and the use of a serpent entwined around limbs. The influence of this sculpture would not only lend plasticity to the painting but also, by association, reinforce its symbolism: the pagan defeated and the Catholic Church triumphant.⁷ The present painting would appear to have the hallmarks of an oil study for the colours of a fresco, perhaps even a modello for the composition, combining summarily executed parts with finely painted details such as the beautiful Mannerist face of the archangel. However, placing the work in Roncalli’s creative sequence poses a problem, given the way it differs from the engraving, and given the close similarities between the drawings and the engraving. If it was painted as a study for the altarpiece, it would be contrary to the typical working process of the artist at this time. The oil study would have to have been an early draft, a macchia, in which elements found in the finished painting, like the bundle of flames and the halo shape of the undulating cape, are present, but where the pose of St Michael is quite different. Also, the demon in the oil study seems to be a composite of the two central demons in the Roncalli painting, as seen in the engraving: the one directly below the archangel, with the dramatically outstretched hand, and the one to the right, with the accentuated, finely detailed shoulder blades and the head turned in an upside-down profile. The pose of St Michael in the Uffizi drawing, together with the shape of his cape, on the other hand, corresponds almost exactly to the engraving. Even if it is possible, it is unlikely that Roncalli, after painting an oil study, would return to drawing preliminary studies. The few previously known oil studies by this artist are all quite close to the corresponding paintings, and if the present painting is viewed as an oil study by him it contradicts this pattern.⁸ In all likelihood, the present work was instead painted later, with the Roncalli painting as inspiration. In fact, it could probably not have been produced without the inspiration from his lost masterpiece, perhaps best evidenced by the idiosyncratic use of the bunch of flames instead of a sword or lance. With this in mind, several characteristics of the study point to a 17th-century artist such as Luca Giordano (1634–1705). Giordano executed two large altarpieces of the same subject, now in Berlin and in Vienna, and also made extensive use of oil studies.⁹ Comparing the Giordano paintings with the Roncalli engraving, it is quite probable that Giordano used Roncalli’s interpretation as a template, while also retaining influences from Raphael’s and Guido Reni’s famous paintings of the subject. Of the two Giordano paintings, the present work is closer to the one in Berlin, especially if we consider the figure of St Michael: his torso, outstretched right arm and in particular the profile of his face, hair and neck. The compositional relationship between the head, torso and wings is close between the present painting and the Berlin painting. However, as regards St Michael’s raiment, there is a closer resemblance to the Vienna painting. There, the movement of the flowing cape is quite similar to that found in the oil study, though it does not create a halo around the archangel’s head in the same way. In the Vienna picture we also find the figure closest to the Satan of the present work. The demon in the lower centre has the same kind of pose, with the articulated shoulder blades and the upside-down profile of the face. However, unlike Giordano’s paintings, the present work retains the bundle of flames held by the archangel in the Roncalli painting. The chain around Satan’s neck is also missing in both of Giordano’s works, a feature that is instead found in Guido Reni’s interpretation of the subject (c. 1636, in the church of Santa Maria della Concezione, Rome). In addition, the legs of Satan in the present painting are similar to yet another representation of the subject, this time Cavaliere d’Arpino’s.¹⁰ The Roncalli painting is mentioned in guidebooks as late as 1763, and must readily have been drawn on for inspiration by Roman artists in the 17th and 18th centuries, together with the earlier interpretations.¹¹ This is true of both Luca Giordano and Guido Reni. In all likelihood, the artist who painted the work at hand would have been familiar with all the predecessors. Giacinto Brandi’s altarpiece in the Collegiata di San Michele Arcangelo in Fermo bears the close resemblance to the present work as well as to the famous predecessors. Although St. Michael brandishes a sword in this painting and his face is turned more towards the viewer, the depiction of his body, especially the positioning of his limbs, is very close to the Nationalmuseum painting. However, at this point I only know this painting through a poor b/w photograph and cannot make a closer comparison between it and the present work.¹² It is clear that characteristics such as the bundle of flames and the halo-like cloak were associated with Roncalli’s altarpiece to such a degree that it was natural both for Martelli and for Corvi and Tofanelli to attribute the painting to him, although this strong association probably also meant that they were thrown off the right track in their assessment of it. Through its early attribution, and its association with the lost altarpiece, the present work is nevertheless of importance in reassessing Roncalli’s influence on later artists’ interpretations of an integral theme of the Counter-Reformation. dp 1 NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1, Catalogue du Cabinet de Martelli (à Rome). 2 Kirwin 1978, pp. 18 ff., 38–39, 57, note 101, pl. 49; Kirwin 1979, pp. 52–54, cat. nos. 29–31, figs. 31–32, 34. 3 Pepper 1984, p. 272, cat. no. 154, pl. 180. 4 Kirwin 1978, fig. 49. 5 Kirwin 1978, p. 38. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid. 8 Pouncey 1977, pp. 223–225. 9 Cassani and Sapio 2001, pp. 146–149, cat. nos. 35, 36. 10 Röttgen 1973, pp. 129–132, cat. nos. 49–51. 11 Kirwin 1978, pp. 18 ff., 38–39, 57, note 101; Kirwin 1979, pp. 52–54, cat. nos. 29–31. 12 Fondazione Federico Zeri, Università di Bologna, Catalogo Fototeca, Giacinto Brandi, San Michele Arcangelo, Collegiata di San Michele Arcangelo, Fermo, numero scheda: 47737, numero busta: 0487 [End]
Motif categoryReligion/Mythology
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category
Keyword