Psychostasy with Satan and the Madonna and Child

Circa 1350
Church of St. Michael, Vienna, Austria

Psychostasy is the weighing of souls, traditionally by St. Michael. In this less common variation on the image type, Satan is on Michael's left making his accusations with a pointing finger while the Christ Child on the right raises his own fingers in the blessing configuration.

The souls in the two trays of the scales have been repainted and are hard to read, but it does appear that the ones on the right have made the grade while those on the left have not. One of the former has his hands clasped in prayer; one of the latter seems to have a dog face.

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Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.