Fragment of an Angel

Gallery 375, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Main Building

Fragment of an Angel

1760s

Ignaz Günther (German, 1725–1775)

This angel, and another now at the Cleveland Museum of Art, were almost certainly made for placement at either side of a tabernacle on an altar. Ignaz Günther, a leading sculptor in southern Germany, mostly received commissions for elaborate altarpieces and figures for religious contexts. His virtuoso skills as a carver and ability in capturing movement and spiritual expression are apparent in this refined figure, which would have been completed with wings and decorated with paint or metallic ornamentation that has since been lost.

Gallery 375, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Object Details

Title:

Fragment of an Angel

Date:

1760s

Artist:

Ignaz Günther (German, 1725–1775)

Medium:

Lindenwood with remains of paint, mounted on a painted wooden volute that was possibly part of the original support

Dimensions:

31 1/4 x 14 x 10 inches (79.4 x 35.6 x 25.4 cm)

Classification:

Sculpture

Credit Line:

Purchased with the John D. McIlhenny Fund, 1967

Accession Number:

1967-136-1a,b

Geography:

Probably made in Munich, Germany, Europe

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Gallery 375, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Main Building

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