Espíritu barroco. Colección Granados, José María Palencia Cerezo and Javier del Campo, Burgos, Caja de Burgos, 2008, p. 138
“Once this man has died, there ought not be enough money in the world to pay for what he leaves behind”. These words from the Carmelite friar Juan de Orbea in 1624 go a long way to showing just how highly the talents of Gregorio Fernández (Sarria 1576 — Valladolid, 1636) were regarded by his peers. The artist was exceptional not only in terms of quality, but also in that he created new iconographical models that would become incredibly popular, taking on a fundamental importance in renovating Valladolid’s sculptural school in the early 17th century.
This work of Gregorio Fernández, cannot be identified as that of St. Michael due to the clearly Jacobean iconography painted in tempera on the tunic, added to the absence of cuirass or armour, elements the sculptor always used when depicting the prince of the archangels, as we can observe in the main altarpiece of the church of San Miguel in Vitoria, in the titular image of his church in Alfaro or in the one attributed to him from the parish church of Serrada. His pose and attire might, however, connect him to the depiction of angels, which sometimes do not have wings, as executed by the sculptor throughout his career.
Stylistically speaking, the image seems to point to an intermediary point between the archangels of the church of San Miguel y San Julián in Valladolid, and those that appear, perfectly well-defined, in the altarpiece of San Miguel in Vitoria.