Picture in Focus: Leather Painting of the Three Kings by Unknown Ethiopian Artist

January 15, 2017

Picture in Focus: Leather Painting of the Three Kings by Unknown Ethiopian Artist

This week's visual homage to the Three Kings from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is a painting on leather from an unknown Ethiopian artisan. The new image replicates a piece already on view in the gallery of the Ethiopian Icons page in the Schools of Sacred Art section and offers interesting incites on how iconographers can renew sacred prototypes without substantially altering the original image. This latest depiction of the Adoration of the Magi is clearly the work of the same artist with significant new details. The robes of the crowned kings are different in color. Joseph now holds a staff. Decorative lathed legs have been added to the manger, which now rests on a rug with a striking green, brown, and yellow waved pattern. The elaborate linework is repeated in the folds of the garments with occasional bright rose accents. All is framed in a bold new ochre background. (John Kohan)