17th century Spanish school

Spanish school of the XVII century.
Pair of announcing angels.
Carved wood, polychrome and gilded.
Presents lack of polychrome and wood.

Measurements: 77 x 45 x 11 cm (each one).

This pair of sculptures represents announcing angels, usual figures in the Spanish baroque imagery linked to the divine announcement, especially to the cycle of the Annunciation or to decorative programs of altarpieces, cornices and attics of churches and convents.

They are figures of remarkable baroque dynamism, with rich golden cloths and infantile expressions, probably conceived as part of an altarpiece program. They appear in a dynamic attitude, with one leg forward and the body in slight contraposto, which reinforces the sensation of movement and theatricality. Each angel carries a wind instrument, an unmistakable attribute of the herald angel, symbol of the proclamation of the divine word.

The childlike faces, with rosy cheeks and sweet expressions, are characteristic of Spanish baroque. The wings have been carved with naturalistic care and richly gilded. The draperies are deep and broken. The original polychrome, combining pale flesh tones with warm and golden tones, responds to the traditional techniques of the seventeenth century, where the gilding emphasizes the celestial nature of the figures.

These sculptures are fully inscribed in the Spanish Baroque of the 17th century, with features common to workshops active in Castile or Andalusia, regions where polychrome sculpture reached an exceptional development. An emotional naturalism predominates, without reaching the extreme dramatism of the late Baroque, impregnated with the influence of the Counter-Reformation sculpture.