The Fall of the Rebel Angels (Floris)

The Fall of the Rebel Angels is an oil on panel painting by Flemish painter Frans Floris. The painting was the central panel of a triptych. The side panels, however, were lost during the iconoclastic fury in the summer of 1566. The scene represented in the painting stems from Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation. It is one of Floris' most renowned works, often credited as his most famous painting. Floris painted it for the fencer's guild of Antwerp, one of the city's militias, responsible for public security. The altarpiece hung in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, above the guild's altar. Like every other guild or corporation, the fencers had a patron saint, in this case, the Archangel Michael, who leads God's angels against the rebels in the painting.

Analysis

This painting depicts a biblical battle between good and evil. The fight goes back to John 's Apocalyptic vision and symbolizes Christ's fight against evil. It's a dense tangle of arms, legs, wings and tails. God's angel, led by Archangel Michael, are engaging in battle with the rebellious angels, chasing the seven-headed dragon and its demons from heaven. The fallen angels are depicted as half-human, half-animal monsters, as in Bruegel's later The Fall of the Rebel Angels. In Floris, their features include curved talons, genitals like an eagle's head, clawing hands, a head of a wild boar, and a grinning goat's head. An eagle gives her two wings so she can escape to the desert. On the bottom right, there sits a bee. ==Influence==

Influence

Frans Floris was a symbol of Antwerp Romanism, and the first artist in the Southern Netherlands to organize his studio after an Italian model. Floris was one of the many Flemish artists from the 16th century who travelled to Italy. During his stay in Rome, Floris was influenced by the work of Italian Renaissance artists Michelangelo and Raphael. Floris composition and its writhing bodies recall Michelangelo's Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel. The woman and the dragon, on the other hand, show similarities with the visual language of the German artist Albrecht Dürer. Bruegel picked up the subject in 1562 for his own The Fall of the Rebel Angels. Rubens painted his Fall of the Damned in 1620, and Luca Giordano painted his own version in 1666. ==References==

Source: Wikipedia ↗

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