Antonio Acisco Palomino de Castro y Velasco

La Cartuja de Santa María de la Defensión, Jerez, and sold as part of the Ecclesiastical Confiscation of Mendizabal, 1836;
Acquired for the present collection by the great-grandfather of the current owner. 

The catalogue illustration is slightly too contrasted and the painting is yellower in tone. The canvas has a relatively old relining which still holds. The painting is not very dirty but the varnish is slightly discoloured and partially opaque. The paint surface is in good condition overall, particularly for a canvas of this size, and the brushwork is lively and fresh, especially on the archangel's sleeves, his plumed helmet and the flames. No significant damages or restorations are visible, neither with the naked eye nor under UV; only a few small repairs that have since discoloured and are also visible without UV (e.g. on the red drapery at waist level and to left and right of the archangel, on the tip of his left wing, on the devil's outstretched hand). None of these repairs are larger than 1 or 2 cm. and apart from these, and minor scattered losses on the rock lower left and on above the angels in the upper right corner, there appear to be no significant damages. Overall the painting is in good condition, with a more pronounced craquelure pattern in the shadows of the blue pigment. The ground is showing through some areas of the sky but this is because the background was more thinly painted. The picture will brighten after cleaning and will certainly appear more vibrant with a fresh varnish layer. This lot is offered in an elaborate carved and gilt wood frame with ornate scroll motifs at the corners and halfway along each edge, in good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Although perhaps best known for his treatise on painting, El Museo Pictórico y Escala Optica (1715-24) and other writings on art, Palomino was also a hugely successful painter, becoming the leading Spanish fresco-painter of the later Baroque period. This painting depicting the Archangel Michael defeating Satan belongs to the pictorial tradition established in Madrid during the mid-17th century by the likes of Juan Carreño de Miranda and Claudio Coello but draws very much, too, on the work of Luca Giordano who arrived in Spain in 1692 and who had a profound influence on Palomino's art from that point on. Giordano's two large depictions of the Archangel Michael in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, and Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, though both much earlier in date (the former circa 1663-4 and the latter 1666), have a great deal in common with Palomino's own treatment of the subject.¹

With Coello Palomino collaborated on what was probably his earliest important commission, the decoration of the ceiling of the Galería del Cierzo in the Alcázar in Madrid in 1686. It pleased Charles II so much that he made Palomino an honorary royal painter and, ten years later, took him formally into his paid employment. The present painting was executed at some point after the completion of the Alcázar ceiling, probably in the mid- to late 1690s.

A smaller version, once signed, was sold in New York, Sotheby's, 15 January 1993, lot 59.


1. For the former see O. Ferrari & G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano, Naples 1992, vol. I, p. 276, no. A160, reproduced vol. II, p. 549; for the latter, ibid., vol. I, p. 282, no. A195, reproduced vol. II, p. 565.