The Fall of the Rebel Angels
Eugenio Cajés
1605
On a journey to Italy the Spanish artist Eugenio Cajés became acquainted with a new way of observing shadow. Leonardo da Vinci had observed that local colour loses its colour properties when in shadow because the eye finds it difficult to register colours in darkness. Within the realm of art this new knowledge prompted a new mode of painting, the so-called chiaroscuro method (from the Italian for light-dark ness). With the introduction of chiaroscuro artists began to mix the local colour with black to create the pigment used for form shadows. Before this, a fully saturated version of the local colour had been used for shadows. Cajés employed the new manner of painting to evoke a sense of horror in Lucifer's Hell, where flames relentlessly torment the lost souls and rebel angels. Here, chiaroscuro is used to create a contrast to the divine universe at the painting's top, where the Archangel Michael and his host are depicted in pearlescent pastels.
SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen · Image: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Public domain · Text: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark (text: Eva de la Fuente Pedersen), CC0