Pictures in Focus: Three iconographic angel images by unknown Ethiopian artists

September 16, 2011

Pictures in Focus: Three iconographic angel images by unknown Ethiopian artists

Angels frequently appear in the work of modern Ethiopian iconographers. Three new paintings with angelic subjects by unknown Ethiopian artists, two on parchment and one on leather, have just been added to the gallery of the Ethiopian Icons page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. Two of the paintings come from recognizable hands. There is a large parchment image of the Archangel Michael, finishing off the devil with a gory thrust of his spear, while a woman in white, presumably the Virgin Mary, looks on. This picture, clearly, belongs with other paintings in the collection on plain backgrounds, showing figures whose eyes all gaze sideways. A small image of the Angel Gabriel, watching over the three Hebrew youths in the fiery furnace (recorded in Daniel 3) has been placed with other leather panels, having red borders, ochre backgrounds, and similarly simplified forms. A second image on parchment of Gabriel at the Fiery Furnace is by an Ethiopian artist new to my collection, who uses brilliant reds, blues, whites, and greens on an ochre background. (John Kohan)