New Acquisitions | Pair of 18th-Century Silver Sculptures at Mia

Posted in museums by Editor on November 22, 2015

Now on view at Mia:

The Archangels Saint Michael and Saint Raphael: A Pair of 18th-Century Silver Sculptures
Minneapolis Institute of Art, 14 November 2015 — 3 January 2016

Giuseppe Sanmartino, Saint Raphael with Tobias, his Dog, and the Fish, c. 1780 27 × 17 × 12 inches; The Archangel Saint Michael in Triumph, c. 1780 33 × 14 × 14 inches, Silver, gilt bronze (Minneaplis Institute of Art, Gift of Al and Mary Agnes McQuinn 2015.24.1,2)

Giuseppe Sanmartino, Saint Raphael with Tobias, his Dog, and the Fish, c. 1780, 27 inches high; The Archangel Saint Michael in Triumph, c. 1780, 33 inches high, silver, gilt bronze (Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2015.24.1,2)

A pair of two silver statues by Neapolitan artist Giuseppe Sanmartino (1720–93), donated to the museum by long-time trustees Al and Mary Agnes McQuinn, marks one of the most important additions to Mia’s silver collection. Executed with amazing detail, the statues testify to a devotion to the two Archangels, an act that goes back to the Early Christian period and continues to flourish in Southern Italy (as well as in the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches) to the present day. Throughout Christianity, Saint Michael and Saint Raphael are venerated for their healing powers. The exhibition celebrates the acquisition of these unique masterpieces, without peer in any American museum collection, and whose only comparables remain in Italian churches.