Saint Michael the Archangel

Ries was the son of a Flemish painter who had settled in Seville. In the mid-1630s he worked for Zurbarán, some of whose paintings are displayed in this gallery and to whom this picture was long attributed. Now recognized as one of Ries’s finest works, dating from the 1640s, this painting relates to both Flemish and Italian traditions. The open-mouthed figure of Satan "cast out [of heaven] into the earth" (Rev. 12:9) especially recalls the work of Ribera.

Credit: Marquand Collection, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1889