My painting is based on a 16th Century icon from Crete, which is now kept in St Catherine’s Monastery, Mt Sinai, Egypt. St Catherine’s Monastery is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. It has in its collection over half of the world’s existing Byzantine icons. St Michael has been painted on a gessoed board with acrylic paint on a beautiful dutch gold leaf background.
St Michael is one of the 7 Archangels prominent in Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions. The other Archangels are: Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Seragael and Jeremael. “El” is the Hebrew name for God. Michael means “Who is like god” and his name was popular with Byzantine Emperors. Traditionally he is thought to accompany the soul to the presence of god at death.
The feast day of St Michael is called Michaelmas on 29 September.
This is the original painting found at St Catherines Monastery Mt Sinai, Egypt.