-
Angel
Unknown - Enlarge image
Angel
- Object:
Statuette
- Place of origin:
Paris, France (probably, made)
- Date:
ca. 1520 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Cast latten (copper alloy)
- Museum number:
A.3-1982
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 118a, case 6
Object Type
The angel, dressed as a deacon, is an extremely rare survival of a Late Medieval French free-standing sculpture in metal. It was probably originally set on a column alongside another angel or angels near the altar, and would have held two of the so-called Instruments of the Passion, the objects used in the torture and Crucifixion of Christ. The shape of the hands suggests that the two Instruments were the nails used at the Crucifixion.
People
The angel was acquired before 1784 by Horace Walpole (1717-1797) for his neo-Gothic house near London, Strawberry Hill at Twickenham. Many sculptures of this date were soon to become available to British collectors - the result of the French Revolution in 1789 and the following wars that ended with Waterloo in 1815. But Walpole, together with a small circle of others, was a pioneer in re-awakening an interest in the art of the Middle Ages before then.
Places
Antiquarians of the late 18th century and early 19th collected such objects in order to create atmospheric interiors and settings for their houses. This effect was certainly achieved by Walpole's angel in the garden Oratory at Strawberry Hill, where it remained until 1842.
