A FRAGMENTARY CARVED MARBLE HEAD OF A YOUTH, POSSIBLY ST. MICHAEL

The tilt of the head, the downward gaze and the flowing locks of hair all suggest that the present marble may originally have been part of a large group of St. Michael overcoming Satan, a popular subject among artists of the 17th century. A similar group was executed in bronze by the Roman sculptor Alessandro Algardi (see J. Montagu, Alessandro Algardi, New Haven and London, 1985, II, fig. 193). However, unlike that depiction of the archangel, the author of the present lot has imbued his subject with a classicising serenity. Although at odds with the dramatic subject of the struggle between good and evil, this serenity actually accentuates St Michael's heavenly nature.