What the record shows
This is one corner of a larger canvas that depicts a number of biblical scenes that are important to the Ethiopian Christian Orthodox Church. The date and provenance of painting are unknown to me. The painting is in a 13th century Ethiopian Christian Orthodox church carved from solid volcanic rock. The Santa Maria Maggiore Style My research has revealed that this version of the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus is rendered in the Santa Maria Maggiore style. According to a Web page titled "Ethiopian Icons - Faith," "This style of image was derived from an Italian engraving (copied from an icon in Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore), which Jesuit missionaries introduced to Ethiopia early in the 17th century . Typically, Mary wears a blue shawl draped with folds and has a cross on her head and a star on her shoulder. She carries Christ, who is holding a book, in her left arm with her hands crossed.
- Date
- Not recorded in the catalogue
- Object type
- cross
- Recorded place
- Ethiopia