2-999-306 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Virgin and Child with Archangels, Scenes from the Life of Christ, and Saints, early 17th century. The central panel of this triptych features a version of Mary and the infant Christ based on a famous icon from the Roman basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore that was believed to have been painted by St. Luke the Evangelist. Prints of this painting entered Ethiopia around the year 1600 with Jesuit missionaries. The widespread circulation of these prints led to the adoption of the Santa Maria Maggiore icon as a prototype for pictures of Mary and Christ and transformed Ethiopia's traditional Marian imagery.