Facing onto the nave are two niches holding sculptures of Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint John the Evangelist. These statues were made of painted plaster of Paris in 1842 by the Sienese sculptor Antonio Rossi, as announced by the inscription running around the base of each one.
On the left is Saint Michael the Archangel, recognizable from his iconographical attributes of armor, the lance, and the dragon.
Michael is the angel who fights for God against Satan, as described in Revelations: “And now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were defeated and driven out of heaven. The great dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had led all the world astray, was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him” (Rev. 12:7-9).
Matching Saint Michael the Archangel on the other side is Saint John the Evangelist, shown writing his Gospel, with an eagle, his iconographical sign, next to him. Both the heavenly direction of his gaze and the bird refer to the great heights which distinguish John’s theological thought.