Saint Michael and Other Angels

This fragment comes from a large painting in fresco – a technique that involved painting directly onto wet plaster – that showed the fall of Lucifer, the rebel angel who was cast out of heaven. It once decorated a wall of the church of the confraternity of Sant' Angelo in Arezzo. There are two other fragments in our collection: Decorative Border with a Kneeling Flagellant and Saints Michael and Stephen and Decorative Border with a Seraph and Saint Catherine.Here we see Saint Michael the archangel, who was the central figure in the fresco. His large wings, halo and armour identify him: he was one of the warrior angels. He raises his arm, ready to strike with his sword; we can see its hilt in his hand. He is supported by several other angels, also dressed in elaborate armour and bearing shields and spears.We know from a nineteenth-century engraving of the fresco that Saint Michael is battling a seven-headed dragon, which is how Lucifer is described in the New Testament (Revelation 12:3).