St. Michael Fighting the Devil

Until the age of 30, Theodor Mintrop worked as a hand on his brother's farm and not until 1844 did he attend the Düsseldorf Art Academy – thanks to a stipend. He first attended classes under Carl Ferdinand Sohn and Wilhelm von Schadow before, in 1850, being accepted into the master class. Mintrop’s oeuvre consists mainly of drawings, of which many were copied by others as lithographs or engravings. Moreover, washed ink drawings have survived that are firmly in the Baroque tradition. They include the sheet St. Michael Fighting the Devil. In a classical triangular composition, the Archangel Michael kneels with his right leg on the Devil, forcing him to the ground. With his left arm he swings his sword of flames to drive his opponent away. Both protagonists are depicted from behind. A characteristic of Mintrop: in the ‘Baroque’ drawings the male figures (and this applies here to the angel, too), are always painted nude. (Christina Voit)