View source for The Fall of the Rebel Angels (Giordano)

{{Short description|Painting by Luca Giordano}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox artwork
| image_file      = Luca Giordano - The Fall of the Rebel Angels - Google Art Project.jpg
| image_size      = 250
| title           = The Fall of the Rebel Angels
| artist          = [[Luca Giordano]]
| year            = {{circa}} 1666
| medium          = [[Oil painting|Oil on canvas]]
| height_metric   = 419
| width_metric    = 283
| height_imperial =
| width_imperial  =
| metric_unit     = cm
| imperial_unit   = in
| museum          = [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]]
| city            = [[Vienna]], Austria
}}
'''''The Fall of the Rebel Angels''''' is an [[oil painting]] by the [[Italians|Italian]] late [[Baroque]] artist [[Luca Giordano]], painted in {{circa}} 1666, and now exhibited at the [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]], [[Vienna]]. Its dimensions are 419 × 283 cm.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.artrenewal.org/Artwork/Index/22962|title=The Fall of the Rebel Angels|publisher=[[Art Renewal Center]]|accessdate=4 March 2019}}</ref>
==History and description==
The work was most probably painted during the [[Venice|Venetian]] period of Giordano and the two strongest influences that the [[Naples|Neapolitan]] painter had during his life are evident in the canvas. The lower part of the painting, characterized by the presence of the demons defeated by the archangel [[Michael (archangel)|Michael]], shows a clear rebellious imprint in the [[chiaroscuro]] features of the scene; while the upper part, characterized by the figure of the saint, shows evident influences of [[Venetian school (art)|Venetian painting]].
The image of Saint Michael mirrors that of classical iconography, showing its spread wings, with a sword, with a heavenly dress and a red cape; intent on expelling the demons that came from the underworld on the earth. The only differences with an earlier painting on the same subject, made by Giordano a few years prior (1663) and now kept in the [[Gemäldegalerie, Berlin|Gemäldegalerie of Berlin]], is that in this work of Vienna's saint is portrayed holding a sword instead of a lance and that his head is uncovered without helmet.
==See also==
* [[List of works by Luca Giordano]]
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==Bibliography==
* ''Luca Giordano, 1634-1705'', Editrice Electa (2001) {{ISBN|88-435-8579-7}}
==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|The Fall of the Rebel Angels (Luca Giordano)|''The Fall of the Rebel Angels''}}
{{Luca Giordano}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:1666 paintings]]
[[Category:Paintings by Luca Giordano]]
[[Category:Paintings of Michael (archangel)]]
[[Category:Paintings in the Kunsthistorisches Museum]]