Monastic Visions: Wall Paintings in the Monastery of St. Antony at the Red Sea

by Elizabeth S. Bolman

An ancient church in the Coptic Monastery of St Antony at the Red Sea contains a unique cycle of 13th-century wall paintings. They constitute by far the most complete and best-preserved iconographic programme of Christian paintings to come from medieval Egypt. Ignored for centuries because they were covered with soot and overpainting, these compelling images have recently undergone conservation. This volume reproduces the cleaned paintings. It also describes and analyzes the amalgam of Coptic, Byzantine and Arab styles represented, and the social world of the artists that created the images. This book celebrates a unique program of conservation work conducted by the American Research Centre in Egypt.

342 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2002