Mysteries, Magic and Powers of Art
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1. Four-lobed processional cross, particularly finely executed. Serpents appear on the edges. Like all bronze crosses, this one was made by the lost-wax process. Cross, fifteenth century, bronze, 26.03 x 15.87 cm. Collection: The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland, 54.2894.
2. The interlacing of this processional cross, in beaten and cut brass, reveals a Muslim influence. On the front, according to the inscriptions, "Mary" and her child between "Michael" and "Gabriel"; on the back, the "Ancient of Days" between "Peter" and "Paul." Cross, early sixteenth century, brass, 28 x 21.5 cm. Private collection. Photo courtesy of Guy Vivien.
3. Benediction cross with engraved motifs: above, the Trinity, with, at their feet, a dignitary armed with a curved sword, and accompanied by a soldier at either side; at the right, Mary and her child; at the left, Saint George, and below, a holy hermit and a soldier. Carving wood does not demand the sophisticated technique of working in bronze, and is practiced by monks, whose talents can be inventive, if sometimes crude. Cross, seventeenth century (?), wood, 57 x 30 cm. Collection: Robert and Nancy Nooter. Photo courtesy of Jerry L. Thompson
Powers of Images and
Asceticism
Photo:
Martyrdom of St. George. The Archangel Michael gave St. George the strength to
renounce his faith before a pagan king, who condemned him to be tortured. He
is the most honored of the martyrs; indeed he is called the "King of Martyrs."
This image is painted in the Second Gondarine Style. From an "Acts of St.
George," eighteenth century, parchment, this page 34.5 x 31.5 cm. Private
collection. Photo courtesy of Guy Vivien.
The ascetic ideal lies at the heart of the Ethiopian conception of the workings of the image. In Gondar in 1932, the priest and painter Kasa, a native of the town, told Griaule, "One has to repent [mazen] and pray in order to paint. When one paints after sleeping with a woman or committing some other sin, after getting drunk or gorging on food, the Holy Spirit will not come to inhabit the painting [sel], and if one prays to the painting, the prayer is not fulfilled." Goha-Tsebah, a professor of theology in Addis Ababa, similarly remarks, "The rule is that the painter must not be a sinner--he must be pure, religious. If someone prays on [such] a painting, God can work miracles. The painting speaks and it also cures."
Photo:
Crucifixion. According to Ethiopian tradition, a depiction of the Crucifixion
by John was the beginning of narrative painting. Historically, however, the
crucifix image was unusual in Ethiopia until the increase of Western influence
at the end of the fifteenth century. This image reveals the influence of
Northern European schools, most obviously in the hair and the flowers.
Interpretation of
Talismans
Although the figurative images on the scrolls are sometimes based on legends, the talismans themselves--abstract motifs containing faces and eyes--almost never are, even when they appear alongside legend-based portraits. This certainly attests to their lack of a didactic or commemorative purpose. But is this mutism due to the secret alone? Or do they have a meaning that has been lost? What do the scholars say about these images?
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