Ethiopian Gospels in the Gunda Gunde style

Tigray, Ethiopia · first half of the 16th century · Ge’ez · W.850

A large Gospel book in Ge’ez of the first half of the 16th century, painted in the style named after the monastery of Gunda Gunde in Tigray: flat blocks of strong colour, faces with huge eyes, robes drawn in fine stripes. It is unusually well preserved. Pictures of the birth of Christ come before the Gospels, each Evangelist faces the opening of his Gospel, and the Crucifixion and the Ascension follow at the end.

All pages of the manuscript at OPenn

10 pages

Pages

fol. 2v · The Magi and the shepherds in nine panels: the wise men who came from afar, the shepherds with their oxen and donkeys, and people coming to worship the Child.Walters Art Museum · W.850 · CC0
Matt 2:11On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.
fol. 3r · The Virgin and Child between the archangels Michael and Gabriel, who hold drawn swords. A cloth curtain sewn to the page still protects the painting; it is drawn back here.Walters Art Museum · W.850 · CC0
fol. 4v · Matthew at work: on the sheet in his hand he has already written the first lines of his Gospel. A pen case and an ink pot hang on the wall beside him.Walters Art Museum · W.850 · CC0
Matt 1:1This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
fol. 59v · The Transfiguration: Christ in a striped white mantle inside a rainbow arch, Moses and Elijah at his sides, and Peter, James and John below.Walters Art Museum · W.850 · CC0
Matt 17:2There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
fol. 60v · Mark, his robe folded in great yellow curves, writes the first words of his Gospel; his writing tools hang beside him.Walters Art Museum · W.850 · CC0
Mark 1:1This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
fol. 96v · Luke writes beside a patterned block of colour, with a lamp and an ink pot on the green wall behind him.Walters Art Museum · W.850 · CC0
Luke 1:1Many have undertaken to compose an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,
fol. 153v · John, painted young and beardless, writes the opening of his Gospel; his blue robe is gathered around him like a cloak.Walters Art Museum · W.850 · CC0
John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
fol. 197r · The Crucifixion: one soldier pierces Christ’s side with a spear and the other raises the sponge, under the red sun and the darkened moon; the title on the cross is written in Ge’ez.Walters Art Museum · W.850 · CC0
John 19:34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.
fol. 198v · The Ascension: Christ enthroned in the sky, and below, in two rows, the apostles watching him go up.Walters Art Museum · W.850 · CC0
Acts 1:9After He had said this, they watched as He was taken up, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.
fol. 208r · A canon table at the back of the book: columns of Ge’ez numbers under a great arch of interlace, framed by striped curtains.Walters Art Museum · W.850 · CC0