Description
In this panel from an altarpiece painted around 1319, Saint Michael holds a sword and scales carrying a tiny human figure. The work combines Simone Martini’s elegant drawing with richly gilded ornament. It is held by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
The scales refer to a long visual tradition known as the weighing of souls, or psychostasis. The tiny praying figure in one pan exists on a radically different scale from the archangel. This contrast makes clear that Michael is not settling an ordinary human dispute, but acting within a spiritual drama about judgement. His sword evokes another aspect of his identity: defence against evil. The two functions are presented together without depicting a literal battle. The serenity of Michael's face transforms the raised sword into an emblem of ordered authority. The weapon draws the eye upwards, while the scales direct attention downwards towards the small human figure.
