Saint Michael the Archangel

This early canvas of Saint Michael the Archangel, dated to around 1660, shows Claudio Coello during his formative years in Madrid working in the shadow of Francisco Rizi and under the distant influence of Rubens and Italian Baroque masters. Michael the Archangel — defeater of Satan and guardian of souls — was among the most popular subjects in Counter-Reformation iconography, serving as a triumphant image of Catholic militancy. Coello at this stage was assimilating the dynamic, light-filled compositional schemes he had studied in engravings after Rubens while grafting them onto the warmer Spanish palette inherited from Velázquez. The result is a work of considerable energy, the archangel rendered with a physicality that is more Italian than Spanish in its confidence. The canvas now at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston demonstrates that even Coello's early output possessed the technical command that would eventually earn him the title of royal court painter.

The dynamic contrapposto of the figure draws on Roman Baroque models, while the palette — amber, rose, and steel-blue — reflects Coello's assimilation of Rizi's colorism. Armour highlights are applied with thick impasto that catches the light at varying angles.