| The Fall of the Damned | |
| Artist: | Peter Paul Rubens |
| Year: | ca. 1620 |
| Medium: | Oil on canvas |
| Height Imperial: | 112.60 |
| Width Imperial: | 88.19 |
| Metric Unit: | cm |
| Imperial Unit: | in |
| City: | Munich |
The Fall of the Damned, alternately known as The Fall of the Rebel Angels,[1] is a monumental religious painting by Peter Paul Rubens dated around 1620. It depicts a jumble of the bodies of the damned, hurled into the abyss by archangel Michael and accompanying angels.[2]
In 1959, an art vandal threw acid on the painting. According to him, he did not directly destroy the work, as the acid "relieves one from the work of destruction".[3]
The sketch of The Fall of the Damned was made in black and red chalks, with a grey wash and is kept in the British Museum. It is assumed to be the work of a studio assistant, which Rubens then went over with a brush and oil colour.[4] The dramatic chiaroscuro of the human forms and clouds emphasizes the darkness into which these figures fall, far from the heavenly light above.