Darth Maul Summons a Glowing Red Crystal — Print & Oil Painting

A standing portrait with only one piece of action in it, and that action is very small: a faceted red crystal hanging in the air an inch above his open right hand, lit from inside, throwing a faint glow back onto his palm and fingers.

Everything else in the picture is held completely still so that the crystal can be the only moving part. Maul stands square, weight even, the left arm down with a black glove on that hand. He wears a dark sleeveless robe over bare arms, with a broad ribbed sash wound several times around the waist in deep red. The tattooing is rendered as pattern rather than as skin: hard-edged red fields against black, symmetrical about the centre line of the face, with the crown of pale horns above.

The face is where the artist has put the tension. The eyes are pale yellow, the brows level, and the expression is one of concentration rather than rage, a man doing careful work.

The background is thrown far out of focus into blue-grey verticals with red mist gathering at the bottom, so nothing in it can be identified and the figure has no location at all.

The subject matters more than it looks. The crystals at the heart of these weapons are not naturally red; a Sith blade gets its colour by forcing one to submit, and what is being held here in an open palm is the raw material of that process. From our Star Wars collection, alongside the double-bladed hilt in his hands and the hooded portrait in crimson mist.