The Fall of Rebellious Angels
1554
Frans Floris traveled to Italy and returned to Flanders completely obsessed with Michelangelo, and you can see that influence exploding in this chaotic battle scene. The Archangel Michael leads a squad of heavenly warriors at the top, swords drawn, while the bottom half is a writhing mass of muscular demons and monsters being cast into hell. It looks like a 16th-century heavy metal album cover, blending Italian-style muscular bodies with Northern European detail. This massive altarpiece helped prove that Flemish artists could create 'epic' scenes just as well as the Italians.
Location: Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp