The Archangel Michael, ca. 1624-1626, Cavaliere d'Arpino, Italian (Rome), Italian (Rome), 1568 - 1640, 96 1/4 ¡Ñ 66 7/8 in. (244.48 ¡Ñ 169.86 cm) (sight, approx.)110 1/4 ¡Ñ 78 3/4 in. (280.04 ¡Ñ 200.03 cm) (outer frame, approx.), Oil on canvas, Italy, 17th century, By the time Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini) was elected to the papacy in 1623, the establishment painter Cavaliere d¡¦Arpino had worked for a succession of popes for over four decades. He had moved to Rome as a young prodigy and begun working in the Vatican palace at the tender age of 15. Even so, the painter was repeatedly passed over for altarpiece commissions in the newly completed basilica of St. Peter¡¦s during Urban¡¦s reign.