Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel

The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1562, is an oil and tempera painting depicting a battle in the heavens as fallen rebel angels are cast from the light of Heaven into the darkness below. Winged, trumpeting angels and archangels in brightly colored robes fight a host of demons who have taken the form of macabre, human/animal hybrids, led by Satan. In the center an archangel with sword strikes at a demon with moth wings while a dragon with human face writhes in horror. The influence of Bruegel’s older countryman, the painter Hieronymus Bosch, is unmistakable in this complex composition. Pieter Bruegel (Brueghel) the Elder (c. 1525 - 1569) was a Dutch/Flemish painter and printmaker of the Northern Renaissance. Among the first artists to incorporate subject matter from landscape and the life of common people, Bruegel all but invented the art of Dutch genre painting. Bruegel painted a number of religious works but is best known for his lively, allegorical paintings of peasants and witty commentary and on life, sin and virtue. His innovative compositions and carefully observed, realistic details influenced many generations of artists, from Rembrandt through the Realists of the modern era.