The Fall of the Rebel Angels
Luca Giordano·1666
Historical Context
The Fall of the Rebel Angels is one of Luca Giordano's most spectacular and ambitious compositions, depicting the Archangel Michael casting Lucifer and the rebellious angels out of Heaven. Painted around 1666, the monumental canvas (over 4 meters tall) showcases Giordano's mastery of dynamic, swirling Baroque composition on a cosmic scale. The painting hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where its explosive energy and brilliant color make it one of the most visually overwhelming works in the collection.
Technical Analysis
Giordano deploys a vertiginous diagonal composition that plunges from the golden light of Heaven to the infernal darkness below. The muscular, foreshortened figures of the falling angels are rendered with bravura brushwork and a chromatic range spanning celestial golds and blues to hellish reds and blacks, demonstrating the virtuosic speed that earned him the nickname "Luca fa presto."
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the vertiginous diagonal composition plunging from golden heavenly light to infernal darkness — Giordano creates a dramatic visual fall that enacts the rebels' expulsion physically.
- ◆Look at the muscular, foreshortened bodies of the falling angels: the extreme foreshortening required for these downward-plunging figures demonstrates Giordano's mastery of difficult anatomical poses.
- ◆Find Michael's triumphant figure in the upper zone — the archangel's luminous form against the golden light of heaven contrasts absolutely with the darkening, contorted rebels below.
- ◆Observe the monumental scale: at over 4 meters tall, this canvas required Giordano to command a massive composition without losing control of its many figures — testament to the organizational skill behind his apparent spontaneity.
