St Michael's Victory over the Devil

St Michael's Victory over the Devil is a 1958 bronze sculpture by Jacob Epstein, displayed on the south end of the east wall outside of the new Coventry Cathedral,[1] above the steps leading up from Priory Street to the cathedral's entrance and beside the stained glass of John Piper's bowed baptistry window.

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 lying supine.

Epstein was first asked to make a maquette, a small model about 18 in (46 cm) high.

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 responded "So was Jesus Christ".

A similar controversy had arisen before, when Epstein created his floating lead statue of the Virgin Mother and Holy Child for the Convent of the Holy Child in Cavendish Square, London (now the offices of the King's Fund).