PROVENANCE: Private Collection, Spain; Knoedlers; French & Co.; Sarah Mellon Scaife, Penguin Court, Ligonier, Philadelphia, PA, until 1966; sale, Sotheby's, London, July 6, 1966, lot 76; Julius Weitzner, London, 1966; BJU, 1967.

Experts base the construction of de Coter's artistic career on his three signed works, representing the early, middle, and later phases of the artist's style. Rogier van der Weyden's sense of composition greatly impressed and influenced de Coter. He loved to explore the tactile qualities of the subjects he painted while keeping with the sculptural drapery effects that so characterized the art of this period. The influence of this artist's works resounded in his native Brussels throughout the late 15th- and early 16th-centuries.

This exquisite work consists of two wings of an altarpiece (probably a triptych) that were joined together sometime before its acquisition into the present collection. The strong diagonal of Michael's twisting pose is graphically emphasized by the cross-staff that he uses to defeat the demon who is trying vainly to condemn a soul (unusually represented by a seraph). In the opposing scale, a seal depicting a seated Christ in Glory reminds the viewer of the final efficacy of the shed blood of Christ. Agnes, dressed in gorgeous brocade and scarlet, reads her book as she holds her symbolic lamb with a leash made of chain. De Coter renders each detail from the leaves in the trees to every strand of gold thread in Michael's robe with remarkable virtuosity.