![]() ![]() ![]() and didn’t the egyptians do it in almost the same way? the story is taking place in egypt! hence this solution showing the silk slippers with their noses lifted up elegantly. depicting feet at right angles to the painted surface in a convincing manner is a difficult problem for painters. The angel to the right is saint raphael, his feet in the same impossible position as michael. she took the picture of the glorious saint michael, laid it on her face and breast, died in peace and became a saint. When her time had come she called for the priests, gave them all her money to distribute among the poor. in the picture she carries the painting of saint michael while talking to the devil in disguise. then the real saint michael appeared and drove satan away. “if thou art an angel of god, where is the symbol of the cross on thee”, she asked him. he even came disguised as the archangel himself, pretending to be sent by god commanding her to re-marry and have a child to look after her in her old age and also because a woman without a man is like a ship without a rudder. she asks her husband to have a picture of th angel painted in her house and he did this for her and passed away.Ī jealous devil often came unto her in various disguises, but every time she drove him away with the picture of saint michael. on his deathbed he asked his wife never to fail in giving alms to the needy and feasts for saint michael. Under the feet of the archangel michael is told the story of saint euphemia. notice how the good differ from the the bad and ugly by the positions of their heads. so within the same painting three scenes are put together: the beheading, the flying head and salome presenting john’s head in a huge chalice to her father. ![]() instead of falling down the head flies up crying out to herod and herodias one last time, defiantly and naggingly: “and yet it is indecent that you take your brother’s wife”. On the right the executioner disconnects john’s head from his body. a promise is a promise is also the king’s adage. the head of john the baptist would make a gorgeous present. salome consults her mother, who sees her opportunity. she may wish whatever she likes and it shall be fulfilled. On the occasion of the king’s birthday, his daughter salome has just completed a dance manipulating her veil in such a way that her father became very excited over it. though herod had put him in jail he considered him a too interesting interlocutor to change his imprisonment into martyrdom. she hated john because he had lectured herod about this indecent marriage. the king had married his brother’s wife herodias. it is about the decapitation of saint john the baptist by a king called herod. Here we have another example of different scenes within the same framing. this is intended to be humorous and makes us smile indeed. the one on the right is looking at himself on the left in the birth scene where jesus rests his head on joseph’s knee. only the haloed man in the top row looks into te oppposite direction to another haloed man in a different scene. here all eyes are turned towards mother and child. and yet there is a humourous detail in this painting…Įthiopian painters often depict different scenes within the same pictorial environment without any separating element. instead of humor i think we have to do with an inadequately worked-out drawing here. and then a closer look at mary and jesus reveales two left hands on two right arms. and look at their hands! there are five right hands only, independant of the right or left arm. which arm belongs to whome can be determined by the colour of their sleeves. the third king shows an empty hand and his right arm is missing, so he has no drink at all. the first and the second king both raise two cups. There is more to say about the cups if we look at those in the hands of the kings. this honey wine is a rather strong alcoholic drink. judging from the cup in jesus’ hand he is fully participating in the toast by drinking the same ’tedj’ as the guest do. the kings, mary and jesus are raising their cups to drink to the health of the new born baby-king. There are also some intreaging details to be noticed. parallel lines in the apparel are used for modelling the bodies and suggesting folds. the dark masks on the faces represent the shadows. a drawing in black lines is filled in with paint. the painting technique is not complicated. so far the story is familiar to us, be it that we associate the kings more with camels to travel on than on the three little ponies at the bottom of the painting. saint joseph has taken place behind the kings. mary and child are seated on the right and three wise kings are kneeling before them, their crowns on the floor at their knees. The new testament starts with the birth of the son of mary, jesus. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |