Bishop Marianos, under the protection of Christ and the Mother of God, is a monument to Nubian wall painting , dating from the first half of the 11th century, and made in tempera on oily plaster in the technique of a secco . Author unknown.
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| author unknown | ||
| Bishop Marianos under the protection of Christ and the Mother of God . First half of the 11th century | ||
| Tempera on muddy plaster, and sekko. 247 × 155.5 cm | ||
| National Museum in Warsaw , Warsaw | ||
| ( Inv. ) | ||
Murals were discovered in the Faras Cathedral on the territory of ancient Nubia in modern Sudan [1] by a group of Polish archaeologists during one of the archaeological expeditions conducted in the 60s of the 20th century under the auspices of UNESCO (the so-called Nubian campaign or Nubian operation). Since 1964, it is in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw . After the restoration work was exhibited in the Hall VI of the Gallery Faras [2] . He is one of the fourteen images of bishops found in Faras Cathedral and one of the six best-preserved portraits of Nubian hierarchs [3] .
Description
The responsibilities of each newly elected Bishop Pahoras included writing his own portrait in the Cathedral of Faras [3] . The murals depict Bishop Faras Marianos, who held his post in the years 1005-1036, with the Mother of God , who holds the baby Christ on his left hand, and Jesus Christ.
The hierarchy, which allows to identify the inscription, is depicted in a standing position. The bishop blesses with his right hand, pointing his fingers to the side of the book, which he holds in his left hand, bent at the elbow. A handkerchief (enchirion) is wound around the index finger of the right hand. Marianos is dressed in the clothing of a bishop for the administration of the liturgy. He is dressed in a black felony with a yellow ribbon, decorated with green dots, at shoulder level. Over it, a purple omophorn with an ornament of yellow rectangles, rosettes and circles along the entire length and a green rectangle with a yellow cross at the end is worn [1] . Under the felony you can see a green stole decorated with two yellow rectangles, below you can see two yellow circles with a green contour, below - again two yellow rectangles with a red contour and yellow crosses. Epithracil Marianos is decorated the most richly compared to other bishops of Pahoras, whose images were found in Faras [4] . The priest is dressed in a white blanket , decorated with vertical stripes of yellow color with long sleeves. He wears shoes in purple [1] . Marianos is depicted as a black-haired man with a light brown color, he has large protruding ears, a straight nose with geometric, wide nostrils, regular eyebrows. The bishop has a black mustache and a black long beard, falling on a red collar [1] .
Comparing the clothes of the bishops of Pahoras on the images in Faras with other archaeological and iconographic sources, it can be concluded that some hierarchs were Monophysites , and others were Melkites . Marianos has no clothing items characteristic of Monophysite Copts , which means, most likely, he is melkit. At the same time, the attire of all the bishops of Pahoras is characterized by an unusual combination of elements of Coptic, Byzantine, Latin and Abyssinian origin, which is not found anywhere else [5] .
Initially, to the left of the hierarch, Jesus Christ was depicted on the murals, but only fragments of his figure remained. One can see a halo , part of the legs and clothes, as well as the fingers of his hands on Marianos’s shoulder [1] .
To the right of Marianos is the Mother of God. Her figure is five centimeters taller than the bishop’s figure (200 and 195 cm, respectively). Mary stands frontally, slightly bowing her head in the direction of the bishop, she put her right hand on his shoulder, and on the left she holds the Baby Jesus. She is dressed in a gray-blue tunic, decorated with white rosettes and red vertical stripes, and the color of a dark purple purpura maforia , which covers her head and shoulders and reaches the feet. In addition, her head is covered with a brown scarf. A mappula with brown and green stripes ends is wrapped around the thumb of the left hand. On her feet are purple shoes. The face of Our Lady is white, her eyes are summed up by lines of green and brown; Mary’s chin is also marked with an extra line. A nimbus is depicted around her head [1] .
Savior Emmanuel , who is in the hands of the Mother of God, is dressed in a white tunic and himation . The folds and contours of the clothes are painted in a reddish-brown color. His face is white, his brown hair is covered in ears and in two curls fall over his forehead. Just like Mary, Jesus is looking in front of him, his eyes are also summed up by a green line. Jesus blesses Bishop Marianos with his right hand, holds a bound book decorated with precious stones in his left hand. Behind the head of a baby is a green cross [1] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Malowidło cienne - Biskup Marianos pod opieką Chrystusa i Matki Boskiej . Cyfrowe Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie.
- ↑ Mierzejewska 2014
- ↑ 1 2 Gołgowski 1967, pp. 175-176
- ↑ Gołgowski 1967, p. 178
- ↑ Gołgowski 1967, pp. 188–189
Literature
- Bożena Mierzejewska. Sala VI. Katedra // Galeria Faras im. Profesora Kazimierza Michałowskiego. Przewodnik / Bożena Mierzejewska. - Warszawa: Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, 2014. - p. 154-157. - ISBN 9788371009167 .
- Tadeusz Gołgowski. Z problematyki ikonografii biskupów Pachoras // Rocznik Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie / Muzeum Narodowe. - 1967. - V. 11. - P. 175–190. - ISSN 0509-6936 .