Pair of baroque angels from the 17th century.
Carved chestnut wood.
Faults, imperfections. Old xylophages. In need of revision. Wear and tear due to the passage of time.
Measurements: 120 x 58 x 44 cm.
Pair of graceful angels carved in round bulk. They adopt dynamic and balanced postures, as is characteristic of the baroque style, standing on the tip of their plump feet. Every detail reveals the quality of the carving: curly hair framing rounded faces with fleshy half-open lips and almond-shaped eyes, skilfully turned anatomies on the thighs, knees and buttocks, finely carved wings and draped cloths hanging from the shoulders and covering the pubis.
Baroque sculpture underwent a major development in Spain, especially in its religious line. With the economy of the State in ruins, the nobility in decline and the clergy heavily taxed, it was the monasteries, parishes and confraternities of clerics and laymen who encouraged its development, with works sometimes financed by popular subscription. Sculpture was thus obliged to express the prevailing ideals in these environments, which were none other than religious ideals, at a time when Counter-Reformation doctrine demanded a realistic language from art so that the faithful could understand and identify with what was represented, and an expression endowed with an intense emotional content to increase the fervour and devotion of the people. Religious themes were therefore the preferred subject matter of Spanish sculpture of this period, which in the early decades of the century was based on a priority interest in capturing the natural world, gradually intensifying over the course of the century in the depiction of expressive values, which was achieved through movement and the variety of gestures, the use of light resources and the representation of moods and feelings.