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THE FALL OF THE REBEL ANGELS, HISTORIATED INITIAL CUT FROM AN ILLUMINTED MANUSCRIPT CHOIRBOOK ON VELLUM
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Description
a cutting, 116mm. by 64mm., a letter ‘F’, in full colours and burnished gold, with in the upper half a bust of St.Michael in a cloud holding a cross-staff, below him two of the rebel angels tumbling head first down from Heaven, through a break in the cross-bar of the initial, into the flames of Hell below, slightly rubbed, mounted and framed
Catalogue Note
The expulsion of those angels who supported Lucifer in his rebellion against God is recounted in Revelations 12:7-9. As they fall, the angels are transformed into demons, visualised in this initial with the heads and bodies of animals, although retaining their wings. The vigour and dynamism of the composition is remarkable even for an artist operating in the ‘rayonnement’ of Fouquet.