Head of an Angel
unknown
Basic information
- ID
- С-I-1654
- Author
- unknown
- Name
- Head of an Angel
- Date of creation
- 18th c.
- Technique
- carving polychromy gilding
- Material
- wood
- Dimensions
- 81 x 47.5 x 16.5 cm (height x width x depth)
Additionally
- Type
- sculpture
- Genre
- religious
- Plot
- Cherub
- Provenance
- Zhydachiv town, Lviv region
Information about author
Object description
The rectangular base features the head of a cherub with outspread wings. The background of the base is treated with a faux marbling technique in a warm pastel palette with characteristic veins, creating a sharp contrast that accentuates the gilded elements. The composition is resolved frontally and symmetrically. The cherub's head is slightly tilted downwards, giving the face a calm, dreamy appearance. The softly modelled, rounded child's face is framed by tight curls of dark hair, which contrast with the light flesh tone and highlight the compositional centre. The stylised features form an idealised, almost incorporeal image.
The symmetrically outspread wings are executed with a consistent rhythm of feathers carved in distinct tiers, giving the work tangible volume and plastic depth. The curved lines of the wings and decorative elements create a complex system of intersecting directions, through which the composition acquires an inner dynamism.
The colour scheme combines a natural flesh tone of the face, dark hair, and lavish gilding on the wings and decorative elements, imparting a solemn resonance characteristic of Baroque sacred plastic art.
The cherub motif was one of the most common in sacred decorative carving of the 17th–18th centuries, symbolising heavenly protectors and serving as an ornamental accent for altars and pulpits.
The symmetrically outspread wings are executed with a consistent rhythm of feathers carved in distinct tiers, giving the work tangible volume and plastic depth. The curved lines of the wings and decorative elements create a complex system of intersecting directions, through which the composition acquires an inner dynamism.
The colour scheme combines a natural flesh tone of the face, dark hair, and lavish gilding on the wings and decorative elements, imparting a solemn resonance characteristic of Baroque sacred plastic art.
The cherub motif was one of the most common in sacred decorative carving of the 17th–18th centuries, symbolising heavenly protectors and serving as an ornamental accent for altars and pulpits.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery
