Artwork Page for Saint Michael

Details / Information for Saint Michael

Saint Michael

1450–67

Master ES

(German, active 1450–67)
Culture
Germany
Medium
engraving
Support
Beige(1) laid paper
Measurements
Sheet: 13.7 x 9 cm (5 3/8 x 3 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Grace Rainey Rogers Fund 1948.457
Catalogue raisonné
Lehrs II.221.153
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Wearing gothic armor and a spectacular cape, the Archangel Michael prepares to strike down two demons with a broadsword. As the leader of the battle against Satan in Saint John’s vision of the Apocalypse, Michael exemplified the medieval belief that angels fought every day to protect people from sinful temptation, characterized here by the face leering from the devil’s belly directly at the viewer.
An engraving depicts Saint Michael, a winged figure with light skin tone, standing over a fallen demon. He wears intricate plate armor and a voluminous, patterned cloak, raising a slender sword aloft. His left foot pins a horned creature whose torso features a second, grimacing face. A massive, ornate shield rests beside them. Fine cross-hatched lines create dense textures across the rocky terrain and small, scattered flowers at the bottom.

Saint Michael

1450–67

Master ES

(German, active 1450–67)
Germany

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