The Fallen Angel of Envy

This is the second entry in a series of seven photo-manipulated graphics I created a while back that I called "The Fallen Angels of Sin." The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings, though they are more emphasized within Roman Catholicism. Behaviors or habits are classified under this category if they directly give rise to other immoralities. Envy (invidia in Latin), like lust, is characterized by an insatiable desire. It can be described as a sad or resentful covetousness towards the traits or possessions of someone else. Envy is similar to the feeling of jealousy, but takes it a step forward. For example, if a woman sees that her best friend has just bought a new and expensive piece of jewelry, she may say, "Oh, I'm so jealous!" in a friendly, joking manner. This is not a sin. Jealousy only becomes the sin of envy when the woman becomes angry with her friend for having something that she does not have and decides to take it for herself. In Purgatorio, Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) defined envy as "a desire to deprive other men of theirs" and the punishment for such behavior is to have one's eyes sewn shut with wire due to the person having gained sinful pleasure from seeing others brought low. I chose to illustrate my 'Seven Deadly Sins' series by selecting stock photos of beautiful women wearing stunning formal dresses because I felt that the beauty of both the women and the gowns could serve as an allegory illustrating the fact that sin always appears to be deceptively wonderful, beautiful, or fun on the outside, but rots the soul once it has been indulged in. This artwork was created using stock photos that I purchased from Adobe Stock and downloaded with permission from various stock artists on deviantART. I have since left that site in favor of this one.