Angel with skull and snake

myminifactory

Of the furniture of Sopron's St. Michael church, two sculptures of angels remain intact at the Holy Spirit parsonage. Since the high altar (from 1752) still exists at Nyulas (Jois), and its two side altars went to Pér and Nagylózs during construction in the 19th century, we can name only the altar of Mary (made in 1749) or that of the Guardian angel (made after 1752) as possible locations for the standing angel figures. Based on fragmentary attributes and marks, we believe they were part of a deliberate iconographic ensemble: one angel may have held the pole bearing Moses' metal snake, while its counterpart pointed to Christ's cross with a skull and a snake slithering over bones at his feet. They were designed for viewing from below, suggesting they originally sat atop an altar. The sources on Sopron masters who created St. Michael's furniture are sparse around mid-century; paintings came from Vienna (Bartolommeo Altomonte in 1739, Felix Ivo Leicher in the 1750s, and Troger's circle), while sculptor György Schweitzer, a native of Bavaria, crafted his "Bethlehem" altar with sculptures in the 1760s. The two angel figures are free from Southern German rococo style marks, boasting well-proportioned bodies, natural gestures, and vertically pleated drapery that preserves wood-sculpturing traditions found in Vienna or the Alpine region, associated with Johann Meinrad Guggenbichler and Joseph Thaddäus Stammel. These statues may not be imports: Sopron's artistic level allows for such quality antecedents to exist.