17th century Spanish school

Spanish school of the 17th century.
"Archangel St. Michael".
Carved and polychrome wood sculpture.
It presents faults in the polychrome and wood. Non active xylophagous marks.
Measurements: 106 x 60 x 50 cm.

Devotional sculpture of round bulk carved in wood, with original polychromy of the time, representing the Archangel San Miguel with wings spread, dressed with armor of classical inspiration, raising the right hand, wielding a sword today lost and with the shield in the other (also lost).

St. Michael is usually represented as a soldier of the heavenly hosts, armed with spear or sword. According to tradition, St. Michael is the chief of the heavenly militia and defender of the Church. Precisely for this reason he fights against the rebellious angels and against the dragon of the Apocalypse. He is also psychopomp, that is to say, he leads the dead and weighs the souls on the day of the Last Judgment. Scholars have linked his cult to that of several gods of antiquity: Anubis in Egyptian mythology, Hermes and Mercury in classical mythology, and Wotan in Norse mythology. In the West, the cult of St. Michael began to develop from the 5th and 6th centuries, first in Italy and France, and then spreading to Germany and the rest of Christendom. The churches and chapels dedicated to him are innumerable around the year 1000, in connection with the belief that on that date the Apocalypse would arrive. His temples are often located on high places, since he is a celestial saint. The kings of France gave him a particular veneration from the 14th century, and the Counter-Reformation made him the head of the church against the Protestant heresy, giving a new impulse to his cult. St. Michael the Archangel is a military saint, and therefore patron saint of knights and of all trades related to weapons, as well as to the scales, for his role as apocalyptic judge. His iconography is of considerable richness, but relatively stable. As a general rule, he appears in the attire of a soldier or knight, holding a spear or sword and a shield decorated with a cross. When he fights the dragon, he fights on foot or in the air, which distinguishes him from St. George, who is almost always on horseback. However, the great difference between the two saints is St. Michael's wings.