The Archangel Michael Fighting the Rebel Angels

In the course of the centuries many paintings have inevitably been lost. This is also the case of the picture by Rubens on which Vorsterman based this print. It hung in the Jesuit Church in Lille (France), and was destroyed by fire in 1740. For his spectacular depiction Rubens relied on the Revelation to John, a biblical book of prophetic visions about the Apocalypse.