Detail: Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel Postcard

This detail of the 1562 oil and tempera painting The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder depicts a rebellion and battle in the heavens of angels against fallen rebel angels led by the Satan. Winged, trumpeting angels and archangels in brightly coloured robes fight a host of macabre demons who have taken the form of bizarre, human/animal hybrids. Here an archangel with sword strikes at fallen angels with moth wings while a dragon with human face writhes in horror. The cast out rebel host falls into the dark lower region of the painting, towards hell. The influence of Bruegel’s older countryman, the painter Hieronymus Bosch, is unmistakable in this early 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.