Artistic Detective Work--Finding a Painting's Sources

The Ethiopian Orthodox painting of Christ being nailed to the cross, owned by the Arca Artium Collection at Saint John’s University, does not appear to be the work of a skilled painter. Except for areas representing flesh—particularly the faces—color is applied in flat patches.

Fourteen figures of nearly the same size are arranged across the entire length of the composition. As usual, there is a general lack of perspective. Figures overlap, however, creating pictorial unity and a shallow sense of depth.  Because all of the figures seem to share the same plane, there is a heightened tension—a sense of drama—between the executioners, the condemned, and the mourners.

The scene portrays the event of Christ being nailed to the cross. The executioner’s face, partially obscured by his hat, is shown bearded and in profile. Another figure to Christ’s right is also bent over his work as he twists and awl into the crossbeam to make a hole for the nail. He is shown in a very curious perspective, so that the viewer sees the top of the man’s head set into the broad arch of his arms and shoulders. Nails and pliers are arranged in the foreground. The inscription in Ge’ez across the foreground describes the action taking place (translation by Dr. Getatchew Haile, Ethiopian manuscript cataloguer for HMML): “They do not know what they are doing. They divided his clothes among them. People stand and watch, and the High Priest as well.”

Soldiers and other men witnessing the execution are gathered at the foot of the cross. All of them are shown in profile. Four women gather at Christ’s head to mourn. They are depicted full face.  At the end of their group, just at the right edge of the painting, are two young men shown in profile.  The formal rules of Ethiopian painting require that a good person be shown full face while an evil person is shown in profile. Given that strong tradition, it is strange that the Christ figure here is shown in profile.

This actual scene is not described in the Christian scriptures. It is first observed in art from 9^th-century Constantinople. Our example is 20^th-century Ethiopian. A 17^th-century manuscript painting from the Gana Yohannes Church in Sakalt (shown here as a book plate) appears to have been the model from which Arca Artium’s painting was copied. Composition, figures, poses and details—including full-face and profile depictions—are all carefully reproduced in the modern painting.

Since the painting’s composition seems so un-Ethiopian, foreign sources were sought—and found. The Evangelium sanctum, published in Rome in 1591, was the earliest printed Gospels in the Arabic language and produced expressly for the spread of the Gospels in the East. The book is richly illustrated with engravings by Leonardo Parasole (ca. 1570-1630). His work is based on the compositions of Florentine artist Antonio Tempesta (1555-1630), who drew on Albrecht Dürer’s (1471-1528) well-known Little Passion (1511). Without doubt, Dürer’s work was at least one link in the chain of image sources leading us to our 20^th-century Ethiopian painting.

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