Major themes in Ethiopian painting. Indigenous developments, the influence of foreign models and their adaptation from the 13th to the 19th century

The traditional painting of Christian Ethiopia is virtually unknown except to a small group of interested people. Ethiopian works of art are virtually absent in art galleries and museums of Europe and America. 1 The achievements of Ethiopians have not been mentioned in publications dealing with the Byzantine world though their paintings preserved the Byzantine features as long as other branches of Eastern Christendom. The studies published in this volume are intended to introduce to a wider public some of the major themes of the Christian art of Ethiopia. In each study the history is given of a particular theme and its relation is traced to Eastern as well as Western art. The quest is also initiated for the African background of Ethiopian painting. It is hoped that the many illustrations which are included will make the material more understandable. The book is based mainly on unpublished material. The collection of the material started in the late 1960s during my lengthy residence in Ethiopia and is the result of my involvement in building up the art collection of the Museum at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa. Being its first curator from 1963 to 1975, I had the pleasant task of starting and developing the collection and on that occasion I had the opportunity of inspecting and recording a large number of paintings which then passed through the art market of Addis Ababa. Also I made many trips to Ethiopia's remote countryside to study wall paintings, icons and illuminated manuscripts in the churches and monasteries. The decade of the 1960s was particularly significant for our perception of Ethiopian painting because many works of art which had been previously unknown came to light. I was fortunate either to witness or take an active part in these discoveries In the early fifth century the Christian world was racked by one of the most fierce theological disputes it had known since the Arian crisis of the previous century. The center of debate turned on the nature of the personhood of Christ, and how divine and human characteristics could combine in Jesus without rendering his subjectivity hopelessly divided, or without reducing his authentic humanness to an insubstantiality. These arguments soon polarized in the conflict between two great churches, Alexandria and Constantinople, and their powerful archbishops, St Cyril (d. 444) and Nestorius (d.c. 452) respectively. Cyril is, arguably, the most important patristic theologian ever to deal with the issues of Christology. The text here translated is one of his most important and approachable writings, composed in the aftermath of the Council of Ephesus (431) to explain his doctrine to an international audience. He argues here for the single divine subjectivity of Christ, and describes how it encompasses a full and authentic humanity in Jesus - a human experience that is not overwhelmed by the divine presence but fostered and enhanced by it. Accordingly, for St Cyril, Christology becomes a paradigm for the transfigured and redeemed life of the Christian. . This book is essential reading for all those interested in the theology and spirituality of the fathers, in the ancient church's use of scripture, and the way in which the church once creatively expressed its thinking through the media of philosophy and the natural sciences. [1] From The Middle Ages To The Early Nineteenth Century -- 2. From The Mid-nineteenth Century To 1935. Richard Pankhurst. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Bairu Tafla. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 305-319.