The Seven Archangels (recto)

c. 1620s

Massimo Stanzione

(Italian, 1585–1656)

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Culture

Italy

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brown wash, traces of black chalk (recto)

Measurements

Sheet: 9.5 x 35.8 cm (3 3/4 x 14 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2025.132.a

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

The Archangel Michael is shown at the center of the composition, surrounded by six more archangels, from left to right, Gabriel, Uriel, Jehudiel, Barachiel, Selathiel, and Raphael.

Description

Massimo Stanzione worked in the Spanish-held Kingdom of Naples, where, during the 17th century, painting was characterized by dramatic expression, emphatic naturalism, and intense chiaroscuro derived from the profound influence of Caravaggio (1571-1610). Stanzione, however, was known in the city as one of the main purveyors of a more classical style, a kind of antithesis to the passion and drama of such Neapolitan painters as Jusepe de Ribera. This drawing relates directly to a painting Stanzione made depicting the seven archangels at the Monasterio de la Descalzas Reales in Madrid. The iconography of the seven archangels was a regional focus of devotion in the Neapolitan kingdom, and in Spain, where the cult of the “Seven Angelic Princes” had been promoted by the 16th-century Sicilian friar, Antonio Del Duca (1491-1564).