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The Archangel Michael

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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This panel is one of three that come from the lower tier of an altarpiece made for the Duke of Milan (the other two are also in our collection). The Archangel Michael stands triumphant after his cosmic battle with the devil (Revelation 12: 16). A pair of scales, hanging on the tree stump to the left, are a symbol of Michael’s role in the judgement of souls after death, when good and evil deeds were weighed up.

Depictions of Michael often show him dressed in armour trampling the devil, and you can still see part of the body of the devil here: his long, curved horn is hooked over Michael’s foot, his black wing against his shield. The rest was lost when the panel was cut down in the eighteenth century.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

The Archangel Michael

Date

about 1496-1500

Medium

Oil with some egg tempera on poplar

Measurements

H 114.7 x W 56.6 cm

Accession number

NG288.2

Acquisition method

Bought, 1856

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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