Spanish or Novo-Hispanic school; 17th century."Saint Michael the Archangel".Oil on panel.It presents repainting, restorations and xylophagous remains.Measurements: 95 x 40 cm.The format of this work, finished off with a semicircular point at the top, indicates that it was originally intended to be located in a specific area, perhaps the jambs of a doorway, so that it would share the subject matter with another work as a pair, probably another panel representing one of the other archangels. In the centre of the vertical scene is Saint Michael, defeating the devil. The piece follows the iconography with the archangel resting his left foot on the demon who is fallen to the ground, brandishing his sword to attack and definitively kill his prey, and holding the shield in his other hand. In the case of the demon, the author has portrayed him with a hybrid form that combines human features with fantastic elements such as the hair-covered legs, the snake's tail, the horns and the ears that resemble those of a faun. Despite the drama of the scene and the expressiveness with which the devil has been depicted, the face of Saint Michael appears serene and impassive, aware of the role he must play and the function that Christianity entrusts to him.According to tradition, Saint Michael is the head of the heavenly militia and defender of the Church. Precisely for this reason he fights against the rebellious angels and the dragon of the Apocalypse. He is also a psychopomp, i.e. he leads the dead and weighs the souls on Judgement Day. Scholars have linked his cult to that of several ancient gods: Anubis in Egyptian mythology, Hermes and Mercury in classical mythology, and Wotan in Norse mythology. In the West, the cult of St Michael began to develop from the 5th and 6th centuries onwards, first in Italy and France, then spreading to Germany and the rest of Christendom. The kings of France gave him particular veneration from the 14th century onwards, and the Counter-Reformation made him the head of the church against Protestant heresy, giving a new impetus to his cult. Saint Michael the Archangel is therefore a military saint, and therefore the patron saint of knights and of all trades connected with arms, as well as with the scales, due to his role as apocalyptic judge.