A pair of angels

The dynamic poses of these figures recall those of angels that are suspended, as if mid-flight, over the Holy family in Neapolitan presepi (Nativity scenes). Created for aristocratic and ecclesiastical patrons in 17th- and 18th-century and typically executed in polychrome terracotta or wood, such angels were designed to hover in dramatic flight animated by swirling textiles and theatrical gesture.

Rendered in carved and polychrome wood with inset glass eyes, the present pair of figures embody the intense naturalism and emotional expressiveness characteristic of Southern Italian devotional sculpture. They would almost certainly have been dressed in real fabric garments, heightening their lifelike presence in a religious setting. Unlike the more commonly encountered presepe angels, which are typically between 30 and 50 cm in height, these examples stand over one metre tall, suggesting they were not part of a domestic Nativity scene, but rather conceived as independent devotional sculptures for display in a church or chapel, perhaps positioned high up as part of an altarpiece or suspended in sacred space. A stylistically comparable example, albeit on a smaller scale, is an angel in the collection of the Museo della Reggia di Caserta not far from Naples (inv. no. 1951 1138⁄18). This angel is depicted nude aside from a swirling piece of textile draped across its body, it is dated to the second half of the 18th century.