Right Half of a Diptych with the Virgin and Child

Description The Venetian artist Niccolò Brancaleon worked in the Ethiopian imperial court at the turn of the 16th century. Brancaleon's use of naturalistic facial features and emphasis on three-dimensional volumes reveal his Italian background. However, his use of flat bands of bright colors in the frame and background testify to his knowledge of Ethiopian artistic conventions. Like Fre Seyon, an Ethiopian painter and monk active at the end of the fifteenth century, the Italian artist developed a highly influential artistic style.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
4/27/2004	Treatment	cleaned; stabilized
12/09/2005	Examination	examined for loan

Exhibitions

• Angels of Light: Ethiopian Art from the Walters Art Museum. Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton; Museum of Biblical Art, New York. 2006-2007.
• Sonya Clark: Loose Strands, Tight Knots. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2008.

Provenance Sam Fogg, London, England, [date of acquisition unknown] by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 2002, by purchase.

Credit Museum purchase with funds provided by an anonymous donor, 2002