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Title

Musician Angel

Vahía, Alejo de (Active in Castile: 1487-1510)

Generic classification
Sculpture
Object
Sculpture
Date
ca. 1500
Century
Late 15th c.
Cultural context / style
Late Gothic
Dimensions
31.50 x 14.57 x 5.71 in.
Material
Wood
Technique
Polychrome
Iconography / Theme
Ángel
Provenance
Possible origin from Castile and Leon (Castilla y León, Possible origin from Castile and Leon, Spain)
Current location
Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia, Rome (Roma, Italy)
Inventory Number in Current Collection
7332
Object history

This work was part of the collection gathered by the Americans George Washington Wurts and his wife Henriette Tower, bequeathed on her death in 1933 to the Italian state, which incorporated it into the collections of the Palazzo Venezia in Rome. Wurts had served his country as a diplomat in various European cities before settling permanently in Rome, where he spent the rest of his life. Given its stylistic features, this sculpture is undoubtedly the work of Alejo de Vahía, a late Gothic sculptor of Nordic origin who settled in Becerril de Campos (Palencia), where he produced a large number of works mainly for localities in Tierra de Campos (most of which are located in the provinces of Palencia and Valladolid). Therefore, although its exact provenance is not known, it is the most likely that it comes from somewhere in Castile and León. We do not know when the Wurts-Towers may have acquired it: in 1864-65, before his marriage to Henriette Tower, Wurts was stationed in Madrid, but he was still very young at the time (he was in his early twenties) and apparently had not yet begun his collecting activity.

Description

The sculpture depicts a standing, wingless angel playing a lute.

* The relative location of dealers, antique shops, art galleries, and collectors leads us to the places where they were based or had one of their main headquarters. However, this does not always indicate that every artwork that passed through their hands was physically located there. In the case of antique dealers and art merchants, their business often extended across multiple territories; sometimes they would purchase items at their origin and send them directly to clients. Similarly, some collectors owned multiple residences, sometimes in different countries, where they housed their collections. It is often difficult to determine exactly where a specific piece was kept during its time in their possession. Consequently, the main location of the dealer or collector is indicated. These factors should be considered when interpreting the map. Refer to the object's history in each case.
Bibliography
  • FACHECHI, Grazia Maria (2011): Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia. Sculture in legno, Gangemi Editore, Roma, pp. 142-143 (núm. 89).
Citation:

Fernando Gutiérrez Baños, "Musician Angel" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/108

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Fachechi (2011), p. 143

Fachechi (2011), p. 143

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