Crucifixion Icon

Artist

Ethiopian (Ethiopian)

Date

Circa 1970

Medium

Paint on cotton cloth

Dimensions

Work : 34 1/2 x 20 in. (87.63 x 50.8 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Neal and Elizabeth Sobania

Object Number

2015.39.13

Label

This simple but powerful icon was painted by an unrecorded priest artist who was active in the city of Mekele in Tigray province during the 1960s and early 1970s. This artist painted on pieces of cloth using commercial pigments that he purchased with money earned from selling his art to foreigners. Although this painting is fairly recent, it follows much older traditions of Ethiopian icon painting with the anguished faces of Mary and John the Evangelist emphasizing the sorrow of Christ’s death while the angels collecting his blood remind us of the redemptive power of his resurrection.