NORTHAMPTON, MA.- The Smith College Museum of Art presents the exhibit Image and Devotion: Christian Art of Ethiopia from the Walters Art Museum through December 31. In fall 2006, over forty masterworks of Ethiopian art from the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore travel to the Smith College Museum of Art for their first showing in this area. The art of Ethiopia, a Christian kingdom from the 4th to early 20th centuries, is highlighted here by colorful manuscripts, painted icons, and bronze and silver crosses made for use in private devotion as well as in church rituals and processions. The works cover many different stylistic periods of the 12th-19th centuries, and were made in the artistic centers of Lalibala, Aksum, and Gondar, among others.

Historically, Ethiopia was a Christian kingdom with strong ties in both trade and religion to the cultures located around the Mediterranean. Ethiopia's Christian tradition dates back to the 4th century, when the king of the Aksumite kingdom converted to Christianity; by the 15th century, this African nation had developed a tradition of icon painting that rivaled that of the Orthodox empires of Byzantium and Russia as well as the famed panel paintings of Renaissance Italy. The collection of Ethiopian Art at the Walters Art Museum, exhibited with those of Byzantium and Russia in a permanent gallery devoted to the art of the Orthodox world, is now the largest outside of Ethiopia itself. This book celebrates Ethiopian art and reveals a vibrant world of color, ritual, and spirituality. . The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue, and is organized by the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.