Gospel BookGetty Conversations

Did you know that Ethiopia has one of the longest standing traditions of Christian practice in the world?

A conversation with Kelin Michael, Graduate Curatorial Intern, Manuscripts, Getty Museum and Dr. Beth Harris, Executive Director, Smarthistory, in front of Gospel Book, c. 1504–05, Ethiopian. Tempera, 34.5 x 26.5 cm, Ms. 102, 2008.15. Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Did you know that Ethiopia has one of the longest standing traditions of Christian practice in the world? Let’s explore this Gospel Book, which dates to the early 1500s, and includes textiles, illuminations, and details that tell of travel, trade, and diaspora.

Getty has joined forces with Smarthistory to bring you an in-depth look at select works within our collection, whether you’re looking to learn more at home or want to make art more accessible in your classroom. This six-part video series illuminates art history concepts through fun, unscripted conversations between art historians, curators, archaeologists, and artists, committed to a fresh take on the history of visual arts.

Additional resources

View this work on the Getty Museum’s website

Bryan Keene, Toward a Global Middle Ages: Encountering the World through Illuminated Manuscripts (Getty Publications, 2019)

Eyob Derillo, “Textiles in Ethiopian Manuscripts at the British Library,” British Library Collections blog (December, 17 2021)

Digitized manuscript collection of the 15th-century Ethiopian monastery at Gunda Gunde (University of Toronto)

Taddesse Tamrat, “Some Notes on the Fifteenth Century Stephanite ‘Heresy” in the Ethiopian Church,” Rassegna Di Studi Etiopici, vol. 22 (1966), pp. 103–15

Eyob Derillo, A short introduction to the Ethiopian manuscripts collection in the British Library (video).