Week Thirty-One: Jesus Heals the Blind Man by Unknown Ethiopian Artist

August 4, 2019

Week Thirty-One: Jesus Heals the Blind Man by Unknown Ethiopian Artist

As we make our way through this tenth anniversary year, looking at highlights of the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, I have selected images for the month of August, illustrating the miracles of Jesus. This week's featured painting on leather of Christ healing a blind man comes from Ethiopia, one of the oldest Christian civilizations in the world, which developed a unique form of sacred art down the centuries influenced by African, Arabic-Islamic, Byzantine, and European culture.  The anonymous artisans of these pieces work in the styles of the church schools where they train, continuing an art form rooted in ancient illuminated manuscript painting. The simply-rendered, wide-eyed holy figures copy time-honored prototypes, but Ethiopian icon-makers add their own touches in the choice of colored backgrounds or distinctive framing decorations, as can be seen in the close to fifty leather paintings on view on the Ethiopian Icons page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. (John Kohan)