PROPERTY FORMERLY IN THE ROMEO JORGE COLLECTION
Angel De Pie (Standing Angel )
mid-18th century (mid-1700s)
polychromed molave hardwood (Vitex parviflora)
height: 41" (104 cm) width: 9 1/2" (24 cm) length: 17" (43 cm)


PROVENANCE: Private collection, Manila



This Angel de Pie (Standing Angel) has well– articulated hair and the characteristic forelock in the eighteenth century manner. The face is childlike with large eyes, a fine nose, small mouth, plump cheeks and chin. He wears a classical vestment often used for angels: a long white “tunico” with two slits in front for the legs over which he wears a blue supertunic with loose bell sleeves cinched at the waist with ribbon. He is barefoot and steps on Ming–style clouds. The back is hollowed out to lessen the weight of the hardwood statue; there are nail holes on its upper back where the big wooden or tin wings were once attached. It is from the mid–eighteenth century (mid–1700s). This big Angel used to stand with its pair as the finials of a side altar in a big, old Augustinian church, their raised hands holding instruments of the Passion of Jesus Christ. One of the best, if not the greatest, assemblages of antique angels in a Philippine church is at the Iglesia de San Miguel Arcangel in Argao town, Cebu, originally built by the Augustinians in the mid–eighteenth century (mid– 1700s). The Argao parishioners are very proud of their old church and its treasures and guard it assiduously; unlike many old churches with careless administration, not one piece has been sold off to antique dealers and collectors through the decades. Aside from the three more–than– life-sized statues of San Miguel Arcangel (Saint Michael the Archangel), San Rafael Arcangel (Saint Raphael the Archangel), and San Gabriel Arcangel (Saint Gabriel the Archangel) venerated at the main altar, there are small angel depictions on it as well. There are angels at the ceiling, angels over the cornices, angels over the posts, angels on the walls, angels on the doors. There are angels on every conceivable surface. Painted angels, carved angels, cast angels, name it and they have it. There are angels everywhere. A contemporary observer could say that Argao church is indeed, “angel–mad.”