Two Angels and Cherubs Bearing an Icon of Christ (c. 1670–80): Art, History and Details

Two Angels and Cherubs Bearing an Icon of Christ (c. 1670–80) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Paolo Naldini (Italian, 1616–1691).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This work is probably a study for a large altarpiece that would have combined several materials, including marble, stucco, and paint. The artist modeled his design in soft clay, which was then hardened by firing; subtle tints suggest the richness of the finished work. The idea of using sculptural figures to support a painted image within an altarpiece was influenced by the work of the Roman sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680), with whom Naldini is known to have worked.

Object facts

• Title: Two Angels and Cherubs Bearing an Icon of Christ
• Date: c. 1670–80
• Creator attribution: Paolo Naldini (Italian, 1616–1691)
• Culture: Italy, Rome
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: terracotta
• Dimensions: Overall: 41.9 x 41.9 x 15.3 cm (16 1/2 x 16 1/2 x 6 in.)
• Collection: Sculpture
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1971.230

Collection credit

Sundry Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1972.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 3 (1973): 63–115.
• Schloder, John E., and Cleveland Museum of Art. Baroque Imagery. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1984.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.