Der Erzengel Michael

The man who ordered this was Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, who at that moment also had Leonardo working for him in the city. His agent had recommended Perugino as an exceptional master whose works had an angelic and very sweet air. The panel was for the Carthusian monastery at Pavia, in the chapel dedicated to Michael, and Perugino started it around 1496. Then the French drove Ludovico out of Milan in 1499, took him prisoner the following year, and he died in a French castle in 1508. Fra Bartolommeo and Mariotto Albertinelli finished what was left of the altarpiece. In the 18th century this panel was cut down, which is why the devil under Michael's feet and the tips of his wings are gone. The scales hanging on the tree stump are his, for weighing souls.