This is a fan art of the Renaissance painter Carlo Crevilli’s “Saint Mary Magdalene” and “Saint Michael Slaying the Devil” I saw Crevilli’s paintings at the National Gallery in London and instantly fell in love with his compositions and use of perspective, which inspired me to create a devil-slaying themed fan art of his work.

“Saint Mary” painting originally depicted her holding an oil pot. However, my rendition of it became a devil-slaying series, and so, to stay true to the theme, I aimed to give her agency and break the biblical cycle of origin city.

As for “ Saint Michael’s”, the original painting had the archangel about to slay the devil for seducing Adam and Eve, who were drawn inside the scales. I switched them with the ancient Egyptian scales of the afterlife, with the heart overweighing the feather.

In ancient Egypt, if the heart weighed more than the feather, it was thrown to the floor and eaten by Ammit, the devourer of the dead. This resulted in the Great Death, which meant the deceased no longer existed and could not be reborn.