Pair of angels strapping
(2) Gilded and carved wood, h. cm 94
The studies on sculpture between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries in recent years have sharpened a certain sensitivity towards polychrome wood artifacts: in this perspective, the Lombard-Venetian baroque sculpture has proved to be a territory of extraordinary wealth, at the crossroads of historical routes in northern Italy. The wooden sculpture possesses aesthetic instances, devotional use and ambitions of naturalism discernible in the works, which appear only to a heterogeneous superficial look for models, cultural references, operational areas, when instead they are signalled for elements that can be considered glues of an experience of polychrome sculpture in wood. This pair of angels in carved and gilded wood is a splendid example of Lombard-Venetian sculpture referring to the seventeenth century. They stand out for the high artistic quality and for the remarkable executive refinement, well visible above all in the rendering of the robes and draperies, which softly wrap the bodies, but also in the extraordinary technical minutia. Represented with the characteristic golden curls, the two angels rest on a plinth characterized by foamy clouds and the golden reflections from which emerge, on the front of the center of the volutes, the whores' heads. Both hold respectively, with the left hand the first and with the right the second, a golden cornucopia as they look at the viewer with serene and serafic expression. The chiastic pose and the muted draperies make the figures appear more dynamic, following stylistic elements typically baroque, also visible in the brilliant gilding and complexity of the forms.