A PAIR OF PARCEL-GILT POLYCHROME WOOD FLYING ANGELS

The present pair of flying angels originally formed part of a large altarpiece of the Coronation of the Virgin in the Church of Saint Nicholas at Wil, St Gallen, in the north-east of Switzerland. A pair of seated angels and a single kneeling angel, evidently from the same hand as the present pair and from the same altarpiece were acquired by the Landesmuseum, Zurich, in 1952 (inv. nos. LM24206/24207 and LM24173). Saint Nicholas was originally a medieval church which underwent a profound renovation to the vaulting and interior in the Baroque style in 1704, following which the Schultheiss of Wil, Franz Müller, donated a new high altar to the church, which originally held the present and Landesmuseum angels.