''St Michael's Victory over the Devil'' is a 1958 bronze sculpture by

Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911. He often produc ...

, displayed on the south end of the east wall outside of the new

Coventry Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The curren ...

, above the steps leading up from Priory Street to the cathedral's entrance and beside the

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

of John Piper's bowed baptistry window. The cathedral is dedicated to

St Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

. 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 A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

lying supine. The larger than life statue stands some high, with the angel's wings spreading . For the face of the angel, Epstein made busts of his daughter Kitty's two husbands,

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

and

Wynne Godley Wynne Godley (26 September 192613 May 2010) was an economist famous for his pessimism about the British economy and his criticism of the British government. In 2007, he and Marc Lavoie wrote a book about the " Stock-Flow Consistent" model, an an ...

, and selected Godley as his model. The angel's body may be inspired by Epstein's 1944–45 statue of ''Lucifer'', now at

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local ...

. The features of the devil may be based on a distorted version of Epstein himself. Epstein was first asked to make a

maquette A ''maquette'' (French word for scale model, sometimes referred to by the Italian names ''plastico'' or ''modello'') is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', from the Italian word for "sketc ...

, a small model about high. He made several preliminary studies in

plasticine Plasticine is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. Though originally a brand name for the British version of the product, it is now applied generically in English as a product categor ...

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

Basil Spence Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...

responded "So was Jesus Christ". A similar controversy had arisen before, when Epstein created his floating

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

statue of the ''Virgin Mother and Holy Child'' for the Convent of the Holy Child in

Cavendish Square, London Cavendish Square is a public garden square in Marylebone in the West End of London. It has a double-helix underground commercial car park. Its northern road forms ends of four streets: of Wigmore Street that runs to Portman Square in the much lar ...

(now the offices of the

King's Fund The King's Fund is an independent think tank, which is involved with work relating to the health system in England. It organises conferences and other events. Since 1997, they have jointly funded a yearly award system with GlaxoSmithKline. Th ...

). The sculpture was one of the last major works of art completed by Epstein before his death on 21 August 1959. It was cast in bronze and unveiled at the cathedral in 1961 by Epstein's widow, Kathleen. A high bronze maquette was sold at Christie's in 2014 for £15,000. One maquette now resides in the chapel of Wesley House, Cambridge. File:PM epstein lucifer.JPG, Epstein's ''Lucifer'' (1944–45),

File:Epstein, Madonna and Child, Dean's Mews.jpg, Epstein's ''Virgin Mother and Holy Child'' (1952),

Cavendish Square Cavendish Square is a public garden square in Marylebone in the West End of London. It has a double-helix underground commercial car park. Its northern road forms ends of four streets: of Wigmore Street that runs to Portman Square in the much lar ...

File:Coventry Cathedral (29245092813).jpg, The sculpture on the east wall of

References

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''St Michael and the Devil'' – Statue by Jacob Epstein
The Coventry Society
''St. Michael and the Devil'' & the West Window
Historic Coventry
Sir Jacob Epstein (1880–1959), ''Maquette for St Michael and the Devil''
Christie's, 20 November 2014 {{coords, 52.4081, -1.5067, display=title Sculptures by Jacob Epstein 1958 sculptures Bronze sculptures in the United Kingdom Outdoor sculptures in England Coventry Cathedral Michael (archangel) Satan Sculptures of angels