FRANCE -- "LE MAINE". (Amst., H. Hondius, 1633). Handcold. engr. map. 370 x 500 mm. (Lower margin split on fold, lower right corner faintly stained). V.d. Krogt I, 4430:1A.1. -- "DUCHÉ ET GOUVERNEMENT General de Normandie". Amst., F. de Wit, (c. 1710). Handcold engr. map. 495 x 595 mm. (Margins cut, sl. browned). -- "LE GOUVERNEMENT de L'Isle de France". (c. 1650). Handcold. engr. map by D. de Templeux. 410 x 510 mm. (Sl. browned). -- And 1 o. ('Description du Blaisois'). (4).

JUAN ANTONIO FRÍAS Y ESCALANTE Córdoba, 1633 - Madrid, 1669). "St. Michael the Archangel subduing the devil". Oil on canvas. Relined. We thank Dr. Alvaro Pascual Chenel, for his help confirming the authorship of the master. Frame of the early twentieth century. Measurements: 82 x 56 cm; 95 x 69 cm (frame). Álvaro Pascual Chenel has a PhD in Art History from the University of Bologna, and in History from the University of Alcalá de Henares. His main line of research focuses on the image of power in Spanish art of the Modern Age. He has published numerous studies, such as the article on Juan Antonio Frías y Escalante. In this canvas we see the representation of St. Michael subduing the devil, standing on his body, holding up a sword, in a little undefined scenario, but that is guessed earthly by the clouds that are glimpsed and the orography of the lower area. The composition is dynamic and scenographic, and follows a very frequent model in the Baroque, with the saint with Roman soldier's attire, full body, occupying most of the pictorial surface. According to tradition, St. Michael is the head of the heavenly militia and defender of the Church. Precisely for this reason he fights against the rebellious angels and the dragon of the Apocalypse. He is also psychopomp, that is to say, he leads the dead and weighs the souls on the day of the Last Judgment. Scholars have linked his cult to that of several gods of antiquity: Anubis in Egyptian mythology, Hermes and Mercury in classical mythology, and Wotan in Norse mythology. In the West, the cult of St. Michael began to develop from the 5th and 6th centuries, first in Italy and France, and then spreading to Germany and the rest of Christendom. The churches and chapels dedicated to him are innumerable around the year 1000, in connection with the belief that on that date the Apocalypse would arrive. His temples are often located on high places, since he is a celestial saint. The kings of France gave him a particular veneration from the 14th century, and the Counter-Reformation made him the head of the church against the Protestant heresy, giving a new impulse to his cult. St. Michael the Archangel is a military saint, and therefore patron saint of knights and of all trades related to weapons, as well as to the scales, for his role as apocalyptic judge. His iconography is of considerable richness, but relatively stable. As a general rule, he appears in the attire of a soldier or knight, holding a spear or sword and a shield, generally decorated with a cross, although here he bears the legend "QVDOS". When he fights the dragon, he fights on foot or in the air, which distinguishes him from St. George, who is almost always on horseback. However, the great difference between the two saints is St. Michael's wings. A member of what is known as the "truncated generation", Antonio Frías y Escalante was a disciple of Francisco Rizzi, with whom he worked from a very young age. The brevity of his life prevented him from developing an artistic maturity that augured great achievements, as his contemporaries expected, but from the beginning his works show his admiration for Venice, especially for Tintoretto and Veronese. Thus, his followers would take from him his characteristic and personal chromatic range, centered on cold colors, a very refined palette of pinks, blues, grays and mauves, which we see in part in this canvas, especially in the cloths and flowers that surround the composition, although here the cold tones are offset by the warmth of the golds and carmines. Also typical of Escalante will be the light, delicate, almost transparent brushstroke, in which the example of Titian is manifested.