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Saint Michael's Victory over the Devil

Coventry, Italy

Saint Michael's Victory over the Devil

St Michael's Victory over the Devil is a 1958 bronze sculpture by Jacob Epstein, displayed on the south end of the east wall outside of the new Coventry Cathedral, above the steps leading up from Priory Street to the cathedral's entrance and beside the stained glass of John Piper's bowed baptistry w

indow. The cathedral is dedicated to St Michael. The sculpture symbolises the victory of good over evil, and depicts a winged angel with spear, standing with arms and legs spread above the bound figure of the horned devil lying supine. The larger than life statue stands some 25 ft (7.6 m) high, with the angel's wings spreading 23 ft (7.0 m). For the face of the angel, Epstein made busts of his daughter Kitty's two husbands, Lucian Freud and Wynne Godley, and selected Godley as his model. Epstein was first asked to make a maquette, a small model about 18 in (46 cm) high. He made several preliminary studies in plasticine and bronze, and had started to work on the main work by the time his commission was approved in 1957. Reportedly, some members of the cathedral reconstruction committee objected to Epstein being commissioned, with one complaining "But he is a Jew", to which the architect...

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