The Fall of the Rebel Angels

The Fall of the Rebel Angels from Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, ca. 1410

The use of exceptionally intense colouring is a characteristic of the Limbourg brothers' work. The powerful blue in particular is practically their signature. All of the colours in the artists' studio were purchased under their personal supervision. The manufacture of the paints was an expensive and complicated process. They made their famous blue, so prominent in this painting of the 'Fall of the Angels', from lapis lazuli, an expensive semi-precious stone from the Middle East. The lapis lazuli was ground to a powder, moistened with water, and then thickened with gum Arabic. In this way they produced an enamel-like medium that, with the use of extremely fine brushes, they were able to apply flexibly and precisely. The thickly applied paint and the liberal use of gold leaf made the manuscripts heavy and suitably voluminous.

How is that the angels, who despite the fact that they were immortal and could rejoice in the countenance of the Lord, had the notion of rebelling against Almighty God? And how did it happen that consequently all other sins originated with this one sin?

Things went wrong when God created man. God demanded that all of the angels subjugate themselves to humans, who were, after all, created in his image and likeness. Lucifer, Captain of the Angelic Order of Seraphim, refused. He wanted to bow only before God, not his image. At that same time, just after the creation of man, God sent guardian angels to earth to instruct humans in a number of essential matters. But the guardian angels saw how beautiful the daughters of the humans were and gave in to their own lust. Two camps of angels emerged and Lucifer made a bid for power. That was too much for God. He gave Michael the Archangel the assignment to drive out the rebellious angels. In the painting we see the moment when Lucifer and his broken-winged partisans fell to earth, damned for eternity. Heaven was now liberated, but the earth was not better off. Lucifer and his cohorts were consumed with anger and vengeance. From that moment on they tried relentlessly to tempt people to sin and denounce God.

This history originates not from the Bible, but from Enoch's Book of Apocrypha (not included in the Bible). The account found its way to the fantasy world of the Middle Ages where it ultimately took shape through the works of Dante and Milton.