Cuzco School; second half of the XVII century.

Cuzco School; second half of the seventeenth century.
"Saint Michael Archangels with donors".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It presents restorations on the pictorial surface.
Measurements: 109 x 82 cm; 125 x 97 cm (frame).
In this painting of purely baroque language is represented the archangel San Miguel, dressed in armor, with large wings spread framed in a legend. In this particular case, the archangel, who is immersed in a glorious burst of glory, is accompanied by two earthly figures located in the lower corners of the work. One of them is recognized as Saint Benedict, since he carries on his head a legend that identifies him, while the religious lady located on the right and pointing to Saint Michael is not identified by the author. Saint 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, 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.

It is worth mentioning that, during the Spanish colonial domination, a mainly religious painting was developed, aimed at Christianizing the indigenous peoples. The local painters were modeled on Spanish works, which they followed literally in terms of types and iconography. The most frequent models were the harquebusier angels and the triangular virgins, however, in the early years of the 19th century, already in times of independence and political opening of some of the colonies, several artists began to represent a new model of painting with its own identity.