Altarpiece of the Archangel Michael

Gerard David painted this small folding altarpiece in Bruges around 1510. In the centre the archangel Michael triumphs over the forces of evil, and the creatures under his feet are counted with care. There are seven of them, hybrids twisted together from animal parts, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum reads them as the seven deadly sins. Far behind, in the sky, the battle from the Book of Revelation is still going on, as Michael's angels drive the fallen angels of Satan out of heaven.

Open, the wings show Saint Jerome and Saint Anthony of Padua. Closed, they show Saint Sebastian and a female saint with a small boy, and she has never been identified. The museum bought the triptych in 1886 at the Artaria auction.