Uriel, Arquebusier

Uriel is one of the four archangels named directly in scripture — unlike most of his militia companions, whose names come from later apocryphal lists — which made him a natural anchor figure for any angel-wall commission. Here he wears the same courtier's uniform as his invented siblings: plumed hat, lace collar, an arquebus held at rest.

That scriptural pedigree sitting inside an entirely non-scriptural costume is the joke and the point of the whole genre: even the angels Christian tradition actually names get dressed as Habsburg infantry once a Cusco workshop gets hold of them.

A rare case of the militia's most canonical name and one of its harder-to-find paintings finally meeting.