Depicted is the archangel Michael driving the apostate archangel Lucifer (Satan) out of heaven and into the abyss (Revelation 12:7-13). At the bottom right, Lucifer is prominently depicted, transforming into the Devil, with long nails on his toes and fingers, being struck down by the centrally-placed Archangel Michael with his upraised cross-lance. With repelling arm gestures, Lucifer falls down from the clouds. Other rebellious angels are flogged and likewise expelled. Above, the Almighty oversees the dramatic event. This drawing is a preliminary study for the altarpiece that the late Mannerist artist Viani painted in 1593-94 for the S. Agnese in Mantua (now in the Museo del Palazzo Ducale). In the preceding six years, Viani had worked at the Bavarian court in Munich. Under the direction of court painter Friedrich Sustris, he produced two altarpieces for the Jesuit Church of St. Michael, one of the most important churches of the Counter-Reformation in Northern Europe. On the high altar there was a painting of Michael driving out Lucifer by Christoph Schwarz from 1587-89. In 1592 Viani was invited by Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga to work in Mantua. His first commission there was the altarpiece for S. Agnese, for which he chose the same theme as the altarpiece in Munich, of which he was well known. [Text: Albert Elen]
Specifications
| Title | The Fall of the Rebel Angels |
|---|---|
| Material and technique | Graphite, pen and brown ink, brown wash |
| Object type |
Drawing
> Two-dimensional object
> Art object
|
| Location | This object is travelling |
| Dimensions |
Height 305 mm Width 220 mm |
|---|---|
| Artists |
Draughtsman:
Antonio Maria Viani
|
| Accession number | MB 2011/T 1 (PK) |
| Credits | Purchased 2011 |
| Department | Drawings & Prints |
| Acquisition date | 2011 |
| Creation date | in circa 1594-1595 |
| Watermark | none (vH, 6P) |
| Mark | J. Cantacuzène (L.4030) |
| Provenance | Jean Cantacuzène (1863-1934, L.4030), Bucharest; - ; Sale, Paris (Drouot) 22.03.2007, lot 59 (attributed to Hendrick de Clerck); Art dealer Monroe Warshaw, New York; acquired in 2011 |
| Exhibitions | Rotterdam 2022, no. 12 |
| Research |
Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600 |
| Literature | Marinelli 2011, pp. 208-209, 393, fig. 6; Jaarverslag 2011, p. 54, ill.; Rotterdam 2022, no. 12, ill. |
| Material | |
| Object | |
| Geographical origin | Italy > Southern Europe > Europe |
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Entry catalogue Italian Drawings 1400-1600
Author: Albert Elen
The rebellious angel Lucifer (Satan) is being cast out of heaven by the archangel Michael and is tumbling down into purgatory (Revelation 12:7-13). He is the prominent figure at lower right, flailing his arms as he falls through the clouds. He is turning from angel into devil as he goes, with long nails growing on his fingers and toes. St Michael is holding his cruciform lance aloft in the centre of the scene. Other rebel angels are being flogged as they are expelled from heaven. God Almighty looks down on the dramatic event from the very top of the drawing. This was a popular subject during the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic reform movement launched after the Council of Trent, in which the Jesuit order played an important part. The subject grew even more popular in the seventeenth century, for it was regarded as an eloquent example of the triumph of good over evil. Moreover, Baroque artists like Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and Luca Giordano (1634-1705) found it to be ideal as a multifigured dramatic spectacle.
This drawing is a preliminary study for an altarpiece (fig.) that the late Mannerist artist and architect Antonio Maria Viani, called Il Vianino, painted in 1594-95 for a chapel in the church of Sant’Agnese in Mantua, and now in the Museo del Palazzo Ducale, Mantua.[1] For the previous six years Viani had been working at the Bavarian court in Munich, and while there he had married one of the daughters of the court painter Friedrich Sustris (c.1540-c.1599), under whose leadership he had worked as a member of the international group of German, Dutch and Italian artists on the decorations of the Jesuit church of Sint-Michaël (Michaelskirche).[2] It is one of the most important Counter-Reformation churches in northern Europe, and is modelled on the better known Il Gesú in Rome. On the high altar there is a painting of 1587-89 by the German artist Christoph Schwarz (c.1545-1592) of the church’s patron saint expelling Lucifer from heaven. In the same period Viani painted two large altarpieces for the transept of the church: The Sacrifice of the Old Covenant with the Trinity and The Adoration of the Name of Jesus.
In 1591 Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga (1562-1612) visited Munich and invited Viani to come and work in Mantua the following year. His first commission there was the altarpiece for Sant’Agnese, for which he chose the same subject as Schwarz’s altarpiece in Munich, from which he drew a great deal of inspiration.[3] In 1595 Viani was appointed prefetto delle fabbriche (supervisor) of the decorative programme for the ducal palace, a distinguished position that he then filled for the rest of his long life.
Viani came from Cremona, where he had trained in the studio of Giulio Campi (c.1502-1572). Only part of his drawn oeuvre has been published.[4] The Rotterdam drawing had been attributed to Hendrik de Clerck (c.1560-1630) until 2007, and it was only then that Hugo Chapman reassigned it to Viani.[5] In style it is closest to his Death of Absalom in Amsterdam, which is also a brown pen and wash drawing.[6] They are both in the same rapid style with flowing lines and frozen movements. The facial types with very basic indications for eyes, nose and mouth correspond, as do the hands with outstretched fingers. Our sheet, though, is more detailed than the sketchier drawing in Amsterdam, in which the underdrawing in black chalk is very pronounced. The hands with the pointed fingers and the drapery folds marked out with contours and modelled with washes in the Rotterdam sheet are executed in almost the same technique as the drawing of a kneeling woman with her arms spread in New York, which is annotated ‘[A]nt.o Maria Vianini Cremonese e Architeto del S.mo di Mantoa’ at the bottom.[7]
Viani largely followed the composition study in the altarpiece, but departed from it in several details. Michael’s left arm, for instance, is more sharply angled forward, and the position of his right wing has been twisted. The background figures, which are generally sketchier in the drawing, such as God Almighty at top centre, are more worked up in the painting and depicted with adjustments in the poses.
Footnotes
[1] Dimensions 445 x 350 cm; Cremona 1985, no. 1.35.1, ill. The chapel was granted to Galeazzo Campi of Cremona in November 1594.
[2] Maxwell 2017, pp. 180-81.
[3] In addition to Schwarz’s example in Munich, Viani probably used the recent print by Hiëronymus Wierix after a design by Maerten de Vos that was published in 1585. Engraving, 283 x 204 mm, impression in Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv. RP-P-1904-822; Hollstein 1085-3(3).
[4] Marinelli 2011 describes eight drawings, among them the Rotterdam sheet. There are uncertain attributions in the Art Institute of Chicago, inv. 1995.15.4; Folds McCullagh/Giles 1997, no. 333, ill.), and in sale London (Christie’s) 7 July 2010, lot 337, ill., dated 1589). It is reported that there are between 60 and 80 drawings by Viani in an unknown monastery near Prague (oral communication by Monroe Warshaw 2011).
[5] Oral communication by Monroe Warshaw 2011, confirmed by Chapman on 20 May 2022.
[6] Marinelli 2011, p. 208, no. 6. Rijksmuseum, inv. RP-T-1977-38; Amsterdam 1981, no. 157, fig. 180.
[7] Morgan Library & Museum, inv. 1993.346.
