Provenance:

Private Collection, Sweden

Description:

This highly unusual view of the Castel Sant’Angelo was painted by Frid while visiting Rome in the mid 1890s. He has chosen, unlike many artists before him, to paint a highly detailed angle of the roofline and castellated top with the focus on the dramatic pose of St. Michael as he draws his sword. The upward motion of his sword and the soaring angle is accentuated by the flagpole which reaches up and beyond the top plane of the painting. With minute detail, Frid pays particular attention to the rough hewn brickwork and the crumbling plaster, as well as the copper lightening conductor which winds its way from the bronze statue down to earth. This powerful image allows us to get a glimpse of something usually well out of reach.