Semi-naked demon wields a club as it lies crushed by armoured foot of Saint Michael the Archangel. Detail of Late Gothic 1400s fresco, attributed to German artist Jost Haller, in the Église Saint-Thomas Lutheran church in Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, Grand-Est, France.
Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, Grand Est, France: a grotesque demon stares up at its assailant as it lies, crushed and semi-naked, under the armoured left foot of Saint Michael the Archangel, in this detail (rotated 90 degrees anti-clockwise) of a striking 15th century fresco, attributed to German Late Gothic artist Jost Haller, in the Église Saint-Thomas, the city’s Lutheran Protestant church. As the demon wields a club in a futile attempt to fight off its angelic assailant, it lies covered only by a breastplate bearing the image of a face. In the complete fresco, the archangel’s right foot pins another demon to the ground as he drives the tip of a lance into its mouth. St Michael wears magnificent plate armour and his wings are decorated with the ‘eyes’ of peacock feathers. At 310 in (25 ft 10 in) or 787 cm high and 170 in (14 ft 2 in) or 432 cm wide, the fresco on the east wall of the south aisle is one of the largest artworks of its kind in France. Jost Haller was born in Alsace in the early 1400s and died in the 1470s. He was active in Strasbourg, Metz and Saarbrücken and is known as “Le peintre des chevaliers” (the painter of the knights). His name was forgotten until 1980 when it was rediscovered by an art historian. A number of paintings and illuminated manuscripts have since been attributed to him, including the Tempelhof Altarpiece from Bergheim, Haut-Rhin, painted around 1445 and now in a museum at Colmar. In 2006, a new bridge in Strasbourg was named after him.
Size: 2581px × 2581px
Location: Église Saint-Thomas, Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, Grand Est, France
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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