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Kneeling angel

17th century

Italian (Genoa)

Despite the damage that cost it both wings and one arm, this figure retains an almost courtly grace and sense of motion, as if he has just alighted. This sense of arrival leads to a tentative identification as Gabriel, the angel of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary. However, the downward tilt of the head and focus of the eyes make it equally likely that it was an angel attendant at the Nativity of Christ, perhaps part of an extensive figural grouping.
Terracotta
14 1/2 x 7 1/4 x 6 1/2 in. (36.83 x 18.42 x 16.51 cm)
Gift of Mrs. John C. Atwood, Jr.
65.85
Provenance: [Adolph Loewi, Inc., Los Angeles]; purchase from Loewi by Seattle Art Museum (funds from Mrs. John C. {Eugenia Fuller} Atwood), 1965
location
Not currently on view

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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