Attribution to Alonso Miguel de Tovar

Attribution to ALONSO MIGUEL DE TOVAR (Huelva, 1678-Madrid, 1752)
"St. Michael the Archangel.
Oil on canvas. Relined in the nineteenth century.
Presents restorations.
Measurements: 104 x 82,5 cm; 123 x 102 cm (frame).
San Miguel Arcángel is shown in this work in the culminating moment of his victory over the devil, to whom he steps firmly while he holds with one hand the chain that oppresses the neck of the defeated creature and raises with the other the justiciary sword. The composition responds to an iconography of deep counter-reformationist roots: the archangel, prince of the heavenly militias, embodies the triumph of good over evil, of orthodoxy over heresy and of divine order over infernal chaos. The image not only articulates a biblical story, but also proposes a moral and spiritual model in accordance with the devotional sensibility of the Hispanic Baroque.
Formally, the painting evidences the assimilation of the Sevillian tradition, in particular the imprint of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, whose influence decisively marked Tobar's career. The figure of the archangel is defined by an elegant diagonal arrangement that dynamizes the scene and reinforces the theatrical effect of the whole. The soft modeling of the faces, the delicacy in the treatment of the flesh tones and the vaporousness of the fabrics reveal a pictorial language that, although heir to the full Baroque, moves towards a more amiable and luminous sensibility, typical of the first century. The chromatism, articulated in warm ranges and moderate hallmarks, moves away from the most severe tenebrism to favor an atmosphere of celestial clarity, emphasizing the triumphant and glorious dimension of the archangel.
The attribution to Tobar is based on stylistic affinities and the context of his production. A painter of remarkable technical skill, he was called to Madrid in 1723 to make copies of royal portraits, a task that earned him the nickname of "Don Alonso, the Copyist". Collaborator of Jean Ranc and portraitist appreciated in the environment of Queen Isabel de Farnesio, he reached the appointment of chamber painter in 1733. His stay in Seville consolidated his prestige as a portrait painter and reinforced his admiration for Murillo, whose compositions he copied and reinterpreted on several occasions, as evidenced by examples preserved in the Prado Museum.