Life-size angel's head. Naples, 19th century

Life-size angel's head. Naples, 19th century.
Carved and polychrome wood. Glass eyes.
Measurements: 35 x 22 cm.

Sculpture made of carved and polychrome wood representing the face of a young angel, with half-open mouth and wide open eyes in glass. It would be part of a larger set.
Given the importance given to the religious image in the Christian world, ambitious sculptural series and extensive iconographic programs were created for churches and convents, as well as printed prints, medals and reliquaries for private devotion. As a whole, regardless of their size or support, these images fulfilled the objective of sacralizing daily life beyond the altars. Among this wide repertoire, we would like to point out those painted replicas of a certain devotional sculpture, whether of a Christ or a Virgin, which technically recreate its original location as well as showing the figure in question. These painted copies received the name of "true portraits" or vera efigie, an artistic phenomenon of prolific production in the viceroyalty of New Spain and the European metropolis.