Saints Michael and Francis by Flandes 1509

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This panel was part of an altar in Spain. The artist has placed both figures within their own niches, but Saint Francis is neatly contained within his space, and Saint Michael extends beyond his niche, stabbing the dragon at his feet. The archangel looks down at the earth (a walled, smoking city,  reflected on his shield). The introduction of a gold background and the broad painting technique.

(Oil on wood, gold ground, 1509).

Juan de Flandes was a Flemish painter active in Spain from 1496 to 1519. His actual name is unknown, although an inscription Juan Astrat on the back of one work suggests a name such as "Jan van der Straat". He worked in the Early Netherlandish style.

His works show the Early Netherlandish style of Ghent adapted to the Spanish taste and landscape, notably the requirements for groups of compartmented scenes for altarpieces. His colouring is refined, "with a preference for rather acid hues", and "while his feeling for space and light is sophisticated, a tendency to divide space into a succession of thin planes becomes a mannerism in his late works"

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