Fall of the Rebel Angels

Beccafumi received a commission from the Carmelite friars of San Niccolò al Carmine for a panel representing St Michael subduing Lucifer. The artist produced two versions the earlier of which is now in the Pinacoteca, the second is still over a side altar on the south wall of the church of San Niccolò al Carmine, but without its original predella.

The earlier of these two versions of the expulsion of the rebel angels from heaven by the Archangel Michael is at first sight difficult to read: the lower part of the painting is dominated by the tall, elongated figures of three standing nude men. It requires some effort to discern that, within the gloom that surrounds them, other figures are shown in convoluted poses. In the upper part of the painting, encircled by a swirling mass of flying angels, is the arresting figure of Saint Michael. Clad in fanciful antique armour, he holds his sword aloft as a sign of his victory over the vanquished rebel angels. Above him in turn appears an extraordinarily daring representation of God, portrayed in extreme foreshortening. As the deity presiding over this act of heavenly vengeance, he appears as an insubstantial - but certainly visionary - phenomenon.

The second version, by comparison, is much more clearly organised. Here God appears as a monumental figure, seated in jjudgment. The bright red of his voluminous mantle and the golden hemisphere behind him ensure that this figure dominates the composition as a whole. The angelic company is organised into an orderly choir of seated figures surrounding God, with only a few of their companions engaged in expelling the rebel angels. Saint Michael has been placed much lower in the composition and acts as the principal agent between heaven and hell. Although still holding a sword above his head, he has been divested of armour and appears in a pale pink and golden yellow tunic, tied across the chest with pale blue ribbons. Beneath him, the fallen angels recline in a series of subterranean vaults lit by sulphurous light. The devil has been transformed into a snarling monstrous beast that has the appearance of a classical chimaera.