Monumental pannel adorned with an angel - Northen Italy, Early 16th century

This large walnut panel carved in bas-relief is a valuable testimony to Italian sculpture from northern Italy at the dawn of the 16th century.
Standing on a console enhanced with foliage, an angel bearing the martyr's cross is presented three-quarters, the head turned towards sinister.
Dressed in a cope and a dalmatic - priestly garments traditionally worn by angels in Western Christian iconography - our protagonist stands at the heart of a richly decorated architectural niche, using the Renaissance vocabulary of antiquity. The draperies of his tunic with wet folds alternating with beaked folds, illustrates the art of the sculptors of northern Italy at the dawn of the 16th century, caught between the northern influences of late Gothic and the novelties of the Florentine renaissance. . Her full face, haloed with spiral curls, is reminiscent of Lombard art. In this respect, our angel could be a continuation of the angel of the Annunciation attributed to the Milanese sculptor Pietro Solari, today adorning a Venetian altar.
Our relief could once have integrated a larger iconographic program, featuring several angels carrying the "Arma Christi" (instruments of the Passion). Our panel could therefore have integrated the decoration of a large tabernacle or even constituted the side panels of a set of stalls.