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Angel

Johann (Jan) Pfister

Basic information

ID: С-I-909
Author: Johann (Jan) Pfister
Name: Angel
Date of creation: 1640s
Country: Ukraine
Technique: carving
Material: wood
Dimensions: 61 x 69 x 18 cm (height x width x depth)

Additionally

Type: sculpture
Genre: religious
Plot: Angel
Provenance: Bishche village, Berezhany district, Ternopil region
Exposition: Olesko Castle

Information about author

Author: Johann (Jan) Pfister
Artist's lifetime: 1573–1640/1642
Biography: Johann (Jan) Pfister (Jan Hanusz-Snycerz) – a sculptor of German origin, was born in 1573 in the city of Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) into the family of the painter and sculptor Georg Pfister. He studied under master craftsmen from the Netherlands and Germany (Hans Fleiser, Friedrich Gross, Gerhardt Hendrik). Pfister is considered the most outstanding sculptor of the turn of the 16th–17th centuries who worked in the territories of present-day Ukraine and Poland. He worked predominantly in marble and alabaster, and less frequently in wood. He executed his finest works in Lviv, Berezhany, and Tarnów.
Starting from 1615, commissioned by Adam Hieronim Sieniawski, he began working in Berezhany on the tomb monuments of the noble Sieniawski family: Adam Hieronim and his three sons – Aleksander, Mikołaj, and Prokop. He led a woodcarving school in the town. Working as the court sculptor to the Sieniawskis, he carved altar compositions in the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Bishche in the Ternopil region, which also belonged to the family. The master worked on the decoration of the altar during the 1630s. Pfister proved himself a highly professional artist who took his first creative steps under the influence of German-Netherlandish Mannerism.

Object description

The artwork represents the era of Mannerism with distinct features of Early Baroque, which is characteristic of the works of Johann Pfister. The sculptural image of the angel is presented kneeling, in a dynamic turn and a complex foreshortening. The right hand is raised high aloft in an eloquent, elevated gesture. Such a complex, theatrical posture lends expressiveness and emotional tension to the sculpture. The angel is dressed in a long tunic belted at the waist. Its collar envelops the neck, drawing the viewer's attention to the focal point – the face.
The garments cascade around the legs in complex, dynamic folds. The modelling of the drapery demonstrates a transition from rigid Mannerist creases to more volumetric, fluid, and flexible Baroque forms, creating a rich play of light and shadow. The angel's face is elongated, with rounded cheeks, expressive almond-shaped eyes, a neat nose, and soft lips. His forehead is framed by voluminous, wavy hair gathered into curls characteristic of the author, which emphasise the volume and plastic expressiveness of the form. The facial expression combines prayerful concentration, spiritual elevation, and an ascetic stillness that aligns with the era's religious and philosophical conceptions regarding the incorporeality of heavenly forces.
The sculpture serves as a vivid testament to the high artistic level of Johann Pfister's craftsmanship, in whose work Western European Mannerism acquired an original and expressive resonance within the Ukrainian cultural space.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Angel

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