St Anna's Fresco

Saint Anne of Nubia – “It Will Make You Specheless.”[1]


[1] An advertising slogan accompanying the painting of Saint Anne and promoting Faras Gallery at the National Museum in Warsaw.

Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

Book of Isaiah 18:2

Kazimierz Michałowski during the excavations at Faras (1960s). Photo by Tadeusz Biniewski – National Museum in Warsaw. CC BY-SA 3.0 pl. (modified). Source: “Kazimierz Michałowski” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Saint Anne is a Nubian wall painting estimated to have been painted between the 8th and 9th centuries, by using the technique al secco with tempera on plaster. This early Christian painting was discovered by a Polish archaeological team led by the Professor Kazimierz Michałowski during a campaign undertaken in the 1960s under the patronage of UNESCO (the Nubian Campaign) in Faras. The image itself belongs to a unique collection of wall paintings and architectural elements from the Faras Cathedral, discovered by an archeological mission. Faras Gallery is the only permanent exhibition in Europe featuring Medieval Nubian paintings from the Nile River Valley south of the First Cataract. The collection of over 60 paintings from the 8th to 14th centuries came from the cathedral in the city of Faras, a large urban centre in the Medieval kingdom of Nobadia, in present-day Sudan.

National Museum of Warsaw (2015). “The Faras Gallery 3D. Treasures from the Flooded Desert. The Collection of Nubian Art in the National Museum of Warsaw”. In: Google Arts&Culture.

Nobadian rulers controlling the Nile Valley from the first to the third cataracts converted to Christianity around 548 AD influenced by missionaries sent from Constantinople by the Empress Theodora.

Excavations at Faras – wall painting on site 1960s. Photo by Tadeusz Biniewski – National Museum in Warsaw. CC BY-SA 3.0 pl. (modified). Source: “Faras Gallery at the National Museum in Warsaw” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

The first cathedral was erected in the 7th century, when the city was still known as Pachoras, and likely stood at the exact site where Polish archaeologists taking part in the Nubia Campaign discovered the subsequent 8th century cathedral. The Nubia Campaign was an extensive international mission to preserve ancient legacies threatened by flooding from the imminent construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt and the resulting formation of the artificial reservoir, Lake Nasser. Since 1964 the painting is in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw, of which the image has been used as a logo.

National Museum of Warsaw (2015). “The Faras Gallery. Treasures from the Flooded Desert. The Collection of Nubian Art in the National Museum of Warsaw”. In: Google Arts&Culture. Accessed on 12th of July, 2018.

Saint Anne, of David’s house and line, was the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus according to apocryphal Christian tradition. Mary’s mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne’s name and that of her husband Joachim come only from New Testament apocrypha, of which the Gospel of James (written perhaps around 150 AD) seems to be the earliest that mentions them. In the painting, St Anne places her finger against her mouth, asking for silence, which may allude to the ‘divine silence’. The finger on the mouth could also indicate that the saint is praying.

Restoration work on the paintings from Faras at the National Museum in Warsaw. Dewaxing the surface of the painting depicting Bishop Petros with Saint Peter the Apostle, and applying compresses in 1960s. Published by National Museum of Warsaw (2016). Public domain (image modified). Source: Wikipedia (2020).

This gesture is rarely visible in Christian art and probably it refers to the tradition of Egyptian Christians (the Copts) who did so while praying undertone. It was believed to ward off evil powers trying to break into a human heart. Personally, I also understand this gesture as a synonym of a mystery and unuttered truth, which remains in silence. Also it is likely that Nubian women, similar to all women in the Christian world, directed their prayers towards St Anne requesting a child and a successful labour.

Featured image: Saint Anne (fragment) (9th c. AD). Nubian wall painting. By Unknown Author. The National Museum in Warsaw. Public domain (image cropped and modified). Source: “Saint Anne (wall painting)” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

The Professor Kazimierz Michałowski Faras Gallery. (2018) In: National Museum in Warsaw. Accessed on 12th of July, 2018. Available at <https://bit.ly/1p8RMzR>.

National Museum of Warsaw (2018). “The Faras Gallery. Treasures from the Flooded Desert. The Collection of Nubian Art in the National Museum of Warsaw”. In: Google Arts&Culture. Accessed on 12th of July, 2018. Available at <https://bit.ly/3mau2is>.

National Museum of Warsaw (2015). “The Faras Gallery. Treasures from the Flooded Desert. The Collection of Nubian Art in the National Museum of Warsaw”. In: Google Arts&Culture. Accessed on 12th of July, 2018. Accessed on 12th of July, 2018. Available at <https://bit.ly/2usw1pO>.

National Museum of Warsaw (2015). “The Faras Gallery 3D. Treasures from the Flooded Desert. The Collection of Nubian Art in the National Museum of Warsaw”. In: Google Arts&Culture. Accessed on 12th of July, 2018. Accessed on 12th of July, 2018. Available at <https://bit.ly/2L7w6tf>.

Saint Anne (fragment) (9th c. AD). Nubian wall painting. By unknown author. The National Museum in Warsaw. Public domain (image cropped and modified). Source: “Saint Anne (wall painting)” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed on 12th of July, 2018. Accessed on 12th of July, 2018. Available at <https://bit.ly/3m41gjG>.

Photo: Kazimierz Michałowski during the excavations at Faras (1960s). Photo by Tadeusz Biniewski – National Museum in Warsaw. CC BY-SA 3.0 pl. Source: “Kazimierz Michałowski” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed on 12th of July, 2018. Accessed on 11th December, 2020. Available at <https://bit.ly/3qP3Hu8>.

Photo: Excavations at Faras – wall painting on site 1960s. Photo by Tadeusz Biniewski – National Museum in Warsaw. CC BY-SA 3.0 pl. (modified). Source: “Faras Gallery at the National Museum in Warsaw” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed on 11th December, 2020. Available at <https://bit.ly/2W8hQEB>.

Photo: Restoration work on the paintings from Faras at the National Museum in Warsaw. Dewaxing the surface of the painting depicting Bishop Petros with Saint Peter the Apostle, and applying compresses in 1960s. Published by National Museum of Warsaw (2016). Public domain (image modified). Source: Wikipedia (2020). Accessed on 11th December, 2020. Available at <https://bit.ly/2W7QTRw>.

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