Souls In Purgatory, Exceptional Italian Polychrome Sculpted Ensemble From The 17th Century

A rare and quite exceptional carved wooden set in such a beautiful state of preservation: this is a rare representation of different souls in purgatory probably expiating their sins in the flames.
Many characters are represented, some crying or praying, others raising their arms to the sky, while the lower part of their body rests in tormented flames.
The characters are carved in high relief, standing out almost completely in the wood and they have retained their original polychromy.
The flames are finely worked and are gilded and slightly silvered in places in an undulating movement like a sea of flames.
The contrast between the polychrome characters and the undulations of the golden flames is superb.
The details are of great finesse. The whole is carved in high relief in a beautiful thickness.
All the characters are carved by the same hand with a base at the base connecting the whole.

Italian work from the 17th century.

an unusual, rare and striking sculptural work in a very good state of conservation.
the damned souls burning in hell or the souls in purgatory remain quite rare representations in sculpture and a little more common in the painting of this period, our sculpted set is therefore a rather special work, we find few of them and those preserved in museums are rarely as beautiful.

dimensions:
142 cm long by 10 cm thick and 41 cm high.

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