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Model for an Angel
About the Artwork
Annibale Fontana created this wax model, perhaps in part for the patron’s approval, while preparing a sculpture for the Church of Santa Maria presso San Celso in Milan. The angel was mounted high on the facade, so the composition needed to be impeccably balanced as well as legible from the ground. Wings and a trumpet appear in the final work, but Fontana here concentrates on the deep folds, clinging drapery, and forceful pose.
Exhibition history
Year in Review for 1984. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 3-May 5, 1985).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Annibale Fontana (Italian, 1540–1587)
- Date
- c. 1583–84
- Medium
- wax on a metal armature, mounted on wood
- Dimensions
- Overall: 54 x 16 x 26 cm (21 1/4 x 6 5/16 x 10 1/4 in.)
- Type
- Sculpture
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1984.38
Provenance
Rene Gott S.A. (Geneva, Switzerland) and Thomas Howard-Sneyd (London, England), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1984.
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00010732
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