Central European school of the 17th century.

Central European school of the 17th century.
"Pair of torchbearing angels".
Polychrome wood carvings.
They present some faults in the wood and in the polychromy.
Measurements: 90 x 40 x 35 cm. the largest.

Pair of torch angels or lamplighters belonging to the Central European school of the 17th century, magnificent examples of Baroque sculpture in polychrome wood, conceived not only as devotional elements, but also as bearers of light (literal and symbolic) in the framework of a sacred or palatial space.

The figures, conceived as adolescent angels of idealized bearing, present a powerful synthesis between dynamism and elegance. Their execution reveals an extraordinary skill in wood carving: the draped cloths unfold in undulating movements, marking fluid visual rhythms that intensify the baroque theatricality of the whole. The drapery envelops and at the same time reveals idealized anatomies: arms and legs turned with graceful robustness and a clear awareness of the classical canon reinterpreted through baroque pathos.

The tilted heads, the serene and sweet faces, with half-open lips and wavy hair, give shape to a subtle mixture of celestial innocence and ethereal sensuality, so characteristic of Central European Baroque, especially in areas such as Tyrol, Bohemia or Bavaria.

Originally conceived to hold lights or lamps, these angels fulfilled a double function: liturgical, by illuminating altars or sacred images, and aesthetic, by gracefully articulating architectural spaces, both in churches and in noble residences. The ascending gesture of their arms or the gentle twist of their torso seem to guide the light upwards, intensifying their symbolic charge as mediators between the earthly and the divine.