The Archangel Saint Michael was the leader of the celestial ar | Wakingup1984

The Archangel Saint Michael was the leader of the celestial armies, & the prince of all the Angels. The episode depicted here comes from the Bible in the Book of Revelation, which describes the struggle between Satan & Saint Michael: — Revelation (Apocalypse) 12:7–9 (Bible) “And there was War in Heaven: Michael & his Angels fought against the Dragon; & the Dragon fought & his Angels, & prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great Dragon was cast out, that old Serpent, called the Devil, & Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, & his Angels were cast out with him.”

Palomino was perhaps the greatest of the Spanish Baroque fresco painters. His technique & style were crucially influenced by the arrival in Madrid in 1692 of Luca Giordano, resulting in a fusion of the Neapolitan style with his own Madrid training. Works such as those in the great vault of the church of the Santos Juanes, Valencia (since destroyed), & in the chapel of the Virgen de los Desamparados, Valencia, show Palomino's grasp of the Neapolitan unified sense of space. Palomino painted many works on canvas, many of which were originally commissioned as altarpieces, & of which one of the finest, an Immaculate Conception, is in the Prado museum in Madrid, Spain.