The Work
Doré's Michael Casting Out the Great Dragon (from La Sainte Bible, 1866) depicts the cosmic warfare of Revelation 12 with his fullest deployment of dynamic compositional energy: Michael and his angels in furious combat with the red dragon and its followers, the entire conflict rendered as a swirling vortex of wings, fire, and falling bodies across the plate.
Biblical Source
Revelation 12:7-9 - "Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down - that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray" - provides the visual program. The identification of the dragon with the serpent of Genesis 3 ("that ancient serpent") creates a theological link from Eden to Revelation: the same adversary present at humanity's first fall is cast from heaven in the final cosmic drama.
Artist and Iconography
Doré's composition mirrors his earlier Expulsion from Eden and Fall of Satan (after Milton), creating a visual theology of cosmic conflict whose beginning and end are connected by similar visual vocabulary. The upward thrust of Michael contrasted with the downward fall of the dragon enacts the theological message of Revelation 12 - the adversary who accused believers before God is overcome and expelled. The plate became central to Protestant visual understanding of spiritual warfare.