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This small panel shows Michael holding the sword with which he slew Satan; Raphael with his young ward, Tobias; and Gabriel holding a banderole that was once inscribed with the opening words of his salutation to the Virgin on the occasion of the Annunciation. The richly coloured ecclesiastical vestments, and the delicately delineated features of the figures suggest a world of courtly refinement.
Devotion to the archangels was popular in Florence in the fifteenth century. Other painters, like Francesco Botticini, Filippino Lippi and Bicci di Neri also treated the subject.
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