The Yellow Hat

The Yellow Hat – An unusual Icon from Ethiopia by Annegret Marx, 9th International Conference of Art and Architecture in Ethiopia, 2nd – 6th Sept. 2013, University of Vienna (Austria)

The Yellow Hat - An unusual Icon from Ethiopiaby Annegret Marx

1. Introduction

Let me present to you an Ethiopian icon. Itcame from Bahir Dar in Ethiopia to Ger-many in 1974, and its origin was mostprobably the church of Qoräta. Because thepainting layer was partially badly dam-aged, a restorer made a “first aid” treat-ment and after that this icon with its un-usual paintings was set aside. The iconwas investigated, documented and con-served by Paula Frechen in her Masterthesis at CICS Cologne, August 2013.

I am very grateful to Paula Frechen and heradvisor Prof. Hans Portsteffen from theUniversity of Applied Sciences, Cologne,for the scientific investigation of the mate-rial, the documentation and conservation ofthe icon as a precondition for further work.

Because the icon is already presented in itsmaterial substance I will focus on the ico-nography and topics of the history of art. I will proceed to describe the icon with its intriguingpainting programme and proceed to make hypothesis as to its possible origin and date. The painteruses very transparent painting-techniques and follows an iconographical canon of famous book ofthe 16th century from Europe.

Fig 1: The icon shows the following scenes: Left side panel(from top to bottom): Scourging, Crowning with Thorns, Bear-ing of the Cross; Main panel: Crucifixion with Longinus andCrucifrago; right side panel (from bottom to top): Lamentationand Resurrection.

Fig.2: Backside of the icon (open and closed)

Size and technical details ofthe icon:

Size: 59 cm high; 36 cmwide, closed;

Main panel: 4,5 cm thick;Side panels: 52 cm high, 15cm wide, 1,5 cm thick(right panel); 52 cm high,14 cm wide, 1,5 cm thick(left panel);

Wood: Ficus ssp. (wanza,possibly Ficus sur). Theicon has iron hinges andwooden dowels at thebottom.


In my talk I will focus on:

– the models or templates for this icon,

– the deviations from the canonical models of Europe,

– the way the crucifixion is presented,

– and conclude by finding the possible cultural origin of the painter.

2. Paintings of the Icon

You see an icon of the Passion of Christ, the scenes are: The Scourging, Crowning with Thorns,Bearing of the Cross, Crucifixion, Lamentation and Resurrection. The iconography follows veryclosely the Images in Jeronimo Nadal’s book Evangelicae Historiae Imagines from 1593.1 Insome places the painter has exactly copied Nadal’s models, so that one can assume that the painterknew Nadal’s book very well.

Nadal’s book, the Imagines, was one of the most important prints of the 16th century, expressingvisually the famous Jesuit manual Exercices spiritualia of Ignatius of Loyola.

Until today it is one of the instruments of shaping a Jesuit's spirituality and identity. Throughouttheir lives Jesuit priests and brothers are encouraged to live in and follow the spirit of Christ’sLife, Death and Resurrection, which is expressed by the term of Imitatio Christi.

Ignatius wanted to teach the novices to envisage Christ’s life and death with interior eyes, there-fore the Exercices have no pictures.2 However, Jesuit missionaries, travelling light on their dan-gerous travels, soon adopted the medium of images for teaching and missionwork.3

His close friend and companion Jeromino Nadal was one of the architects of the network of Jesuitschools and knew about the didactic value of pictures for meditation. The publication of the Evan-gelicae Historiae Imagines and the Texts of Annotationes et Meditationes in Evangelia, fifteenyears after his death, gives evidence of Nadal’s understanding of the impact of pictures.

3. The didactic concept of Nadal’s Imagines

Each of Nadal’s engravings was given a title, a number, the scripture reference and the year of Je-sus’ life it noted. Captions and short texts numbered from A to G guided the contemplator throughthe steps of meditation. In a second publication the Imagines were complemented with short An-

1 For comparison of the pictures it was very helpful to have good prints, and an English text, translated text from Latinof Nadal’s Adonationes et Medationes in Evangelia of 1607, so I could follow the original instructions, questionsand explanations of the relevant time: Nadal, Jerome S.J. Annotations and Meditations on the Gospels, Volume I–The Infancy Narratives –2003; Volume II – The Passion Narratives – 2007; Volume III – The Resurrection Narra-tives– 2005; translated and edited by Frederick A. Homann, S.J., Philadelphia. (Volume I include very good digitalcopies of the original edition of 1607).

2 See: Carolin Behrmann, ‘Le monde est une peinture‘ – Zu Louis Richeômes Bildtheorie im Kontext globaler Mission,in: Elisabeth Oy-Marra und Volker R. Remmert (Hrsg.)unter Mitarbeit von Kristina Müller-Bongard, Le monde estune peinture – Jesuitische Identität und die Rolle der Bilder, Beiträge zu den Historischen Kulturwissenschaften Bd.7, Berlin 2011, 16-43.

3 John W. O’Malley, ‘The Historiography of the Society of Jesus: Where does It Stand Today?’, in John W. O’Malley,The Jesuits: Cultures, Sciences, and the Arts, 1540-1773, Vol. I, Toronto 1999, 3-37.

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notationes and longer Meditationes, all relat-ing to the caption-system of the Imagines. Thesame system was also used in the paintings inJesuit institutions from early on.4

From these introductory remarks ob the didac-tic use of images – or images hinting at par-ticular details, I wish to turn to the icon inquestion. Here I follow three of Nadal’s en-gravings and their counterparts on the icon.

The so-far unnamed and unknown painterpainter used a Nadal engraving as model forhis composition. He then went further and in-serted a detail or changed a detail in the origi-nal to focus on a particular interpretation hewished to give the scene. The background inmost scenes is predominantly a field of twoconverging colours melding into each other.

When studying closely the icon, I noted fol-lowing deviations from the European tem-plate, keeping in mind, that images, just liketext, needed ecclesiastical approbation beforeprinting permission could be given.5

4. Crowning with Thorns

In European images of the Passion of Jesus, Jesus is portrayed as holding a scepter of reed in hishand. Nadal’s text for caption E is as follows: They strike, abuse, and lash Jesus with the reed,and hail Him as King of the Jews. In contrast, the icon shows that this scepter in yellow on theright side of the picture lies on the ground. To the inverse pictures I will refer next.

4 Gauvin Alexander Bailey, Between Renaissance and Barock – Jesuit Art in Rom 1565–1610. Toronto 2003, chapter 2-3, 39-102.

5 The engravings always need approbation by the Church authorities. In this context see: Eckhard Leuschner, AntonioTempesta – Ein Bahnbrecher des römischen Barock und seine europäische Wirkung, in particular chapter 6: ‘Rah-menbedingungen II: die päpstliche Zensur und Förderung des päpstlichen Bilddrucks’, Petersberg 2005, 204-211.

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Fig 3: Nadal’s Imagines nr. 121 FLAGELLATUR CHRISTUS:The didactic concept of Captions under the picture serve as aguide for meditation.


5. ‘Carrying of the Cross’ and Pilate passes sentence on Jesus.

For a long time I couldn’t find the exact model for the image on the icon ‘Jesus carrying the cross’in Nadal's book. The Nadal engravings Imagines 125 (‘They lead Jesus out of town’) and Imag-ines 126 (the scene with Simon of Cyrene) did not seem to fit the scene on the icon. However,when I inversed the picture of Nadal's Imagines 124, ‘Pilate passes sentence on Jesus’, I found thetemplate I was looking for.

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Fig. 4: Nadal’s Imagines nr. 122 CORONATUR SPINISIESUS , detail: Nadal’s text says: They strike, abuse, andlash Jesus with the reed, and hail Him as King of theJews. (Caption E)

Fig. 5: Detail from the left panel of the icon 'Crowning withThorns' – The reed is not in the hand of Jesus. The scene ismirror inverted to Nadal's template.

Fig. 6: Nadal’s Imagines nr. 125: DU-CITUR IESUS EXTRA PORTAM ADCALVARIAE MONTEM

Fig. 7: Nadal’s Imagines nr. 126:QUAE GESTA SUNT POSTEAANTE CRUCIFIXIONEM

Fig. 8: Nadal’s Imagines nr. 124FERT SENTENTIAM PILATUS CON-TRA IESUM


Here it is important to mention, that mirror inversion was a technique widely used by painters andprinters. It was an established method of variation of compositions.6

The ‘Carrying of the Cross’ occupies an important stage in the story of Christ and therefore in theJesuit discipline of the Imitatio Christi. In the Nadal original, the image is on two registers: on theupper register we see Pilate under the Baldaquin, washing his hands, and on the lower register wesee Christ with the cross and parts of crosses of other delinquents, nearly out of the picture. Hewas sentenced together with thieves; the thief Barabbas was let free.

6. Pilate passed Sentence to Jesus

If one only sees the pic-ture on the side panel ofthe icon, one might thinkthat the picture shows thisstage of Christ’s Passion,the ‘Carrying of theCross'. But if you com-pare the scene to the im-age engraved in Nadal’sbook, it becomes clearthat the scene must be in-terpreted differently. Infact, this is taken from thescene of ‘Pilate passesSentence on Jesus’. In theright corner at the top ofthe picture the painter de-

picts also the spear as the sign of office and part of another cross: Jesus is not alone in his suffer-ing.

7. Christ gives up His Spirit

This is the moment, described in the captions in Nadal’s book ‘when the dark starts to lift’ afterthe Death of Christ. Nadal’s painting programme followed the rules of the Council of Trent(1545–63), however, in this icon the programme received a more somber treatment. All knownprotagonists are shown, in addition (taken from Nadal 129, Events after the Cross was raised andbefore Christ gave up the spirit) the stick with the sponge is held – this time not by Stephaton, butone of the bystanders. The central theme on the Nadal engraving is elongated on the icon and thedark blue upper background clearly divided from the lower yellow to red background. The dark-blue sky is dotted with many falling stars on the icon, but without the traditional sun and moon7

on the engraving. A walled city below the hill of Golgotha stretches in the background

6 Christian von Heusinger, Das gestochene Bild – von der Zeichnung zum Kupferstich. Ausstellungskatalog Herzog An-ton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig, 1987, p. 15, and many examples in the catalogue.

7 This depiction refers to the Joel 3,4 and Rev 6,12.

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Fig. 9: Nadal’s Imagines nr. 124, in-versed detail

Fig. 10: Detail from the left panel of the icon 'Je-sus carrying the cross'


The next step is to describe how the Ethiopian icon deviates from the European template. In con-trary to Nadal’s book, the body of Christ is depicted more realistically, fleshy, more in the style ofthe late Renaissance,8 which was favoured by the early Jesuits.9

8. The Body of Christ

The treatment of the Body of Christ is similar to the famous painting of Santi de Tito from 1573.(See fig. 14, found in Leuschner, Tempesta, p. 33). Santi de Tito and some of his followers wereamong the artists working for the Jesuits in Rome. Until today just this type for the image of thebody of Christ is used in countless Ethiopian paintings.

8 Maj-Brit Wadell, Evangelicae Historiae Imagines – Entstehungsgeschichte und Vorlagen, Göteborg 1985, in particu-lar chapter 6. Wadell differentiates between three artists; the first sketches were made between 1550-1560 by thepainter Livio Agresti (1508–1580), the revision by the Jesuit friar and sculptor from Florence Giovanni BattistaFiammeri (c. 1530–after 1617) and the finished artwork before 1587 mainly by the graphic artist Bernardino Pas-seri (1540–1596) from Rome. The figures inAgresti’s sketches, in the style of Renaissance painting, clearly expressthe original conception of the early Jesuits. Fiammeri revised them in a more puritanical shape in accordance withthe decrees of the council of Trent. Finally the experienced graphic artist Passeri gave them a structural unity.

9 Bailey, 2003, 5-7.

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Fig. 11 Nadal’s Imagines nr. 130 EMISSIO SPIRITUS, without text Fig. 12: Main panel of the icon


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Crucifixions of the ‘Santi-de-Tito’-type on Ethiopian paintings

Icons Manuscripts Murals in

IES-Nr.: 1349, 3105, 3329, 3330, 3456,3524, 3528, 3553, 3560, 3564,3568, 3598,3665, 3677, 3701, 3790,3803, 3894, 3979, 3996, 4056, 4067, 4115, 4189, 4327, 6661, 6969, 6998,6999, 9561, 9568, 9571, 9572, 9579, 9584, 9589, 9693, 9596, 9602;

Daga Estifanos;

München Inv.Nr. 89-311882, 86-307580;

Frankfurt cat.Nr.:244, 245;… - to continue -

Maryam Qi’at, picture book;

Bet Mäka’, Dersana Mika’el(bookcover);Brit.Libr. or. 640 (Master of Ara-bic script);Lady Meux Ms. No. 4;Frankfurt cat. 17;Däbrä Marqos Ms 169; Ms 180multiple (signed by Ali (=painter)Aläqa Haylu;Ankobar, painters manual;… - to continue -

Suramba;Oura Kidane meherat;Däbrä Marqos (Aläqa Haylu);Daga Estifanos;Narga;Gondar Däbrä Berhan Selassie;…- to continue -

Fig. 13: Nadal’s Imagines nr. 130EMISSIO SPIRITUS, detail.

Fig. 14: Crucifixion (detail) with St.Thomas Aquino “Thoma, bene scrip-sisti de me”, von Santi de Tito, Flo-rence 1573.

Fig. 15: Main panel of the icon: Cru-cifixion, detail.


9. Longinus with blue eyes – Helmet and mail shirt at Däbrä Worq, Gojjam

Strikingly, Longinus is de-picted with blue-grey eyes.The helmets of the soldiersare realistically painted. Dothe helmet of similar shapeand an old mail shirt inDäbrä Worq on a photogra-phy of the 20th century pointto garments used in Ethiopiaof times bygone?

10. Spanish fashion

The Portuguese soldier from the side panel ‘Pilate passessentence on Jesus’ wears a blue jacket with red barhónesor shoulder slabs10, an ornament characteristic of Spanishfashion until the first third of the 17th century. The paintermust have seen it.

10Ingrid Loschek, Reclams Mode und Kostümlexikon, Stuttgart, 5/2005, p. 92: ‘Achselstück, auch Achsel- oder Schul-terwulst, ein über die Achsel stehender kurzer Flügel (330) oder ringförmiger Wulst (50, 51) zur Verbreiterung derSchultern am Jubón (dort spanisch Barhónes genannt), am Manteau der Dame und am Wams oder Faltrock des Man-nes; gebräuchlich 2. Hälfte 16. (besonders etwa nach 1575) bis 1. Drittel 17. Jh. See also ErikaThiel, Die Geschichtedes Kostüms, Berlin: Henschel-Verlag, 1980, in particular the chapter ‘Die spanische Hoftracht’, 311-318.

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Fig. 16: Longinus has blue-grey eyes andwears a Portuguese helmet.

Fig. 17: Helmet and mail shirt atDäbrä Worq, Gojjam.

Fig. 18: red barhónes or shoulder slabs


11. Crucifixion and the background – Celestial Jerusalem

Back to the Main panel: First I saw the colour field at the bottom as a red sky and I could not ex-plain the long line of flat arches at the top of the red background. Then my husband looked at itand told me: This is a wall! This helped me to find the scripture reference: The Book of Revela-tion, chapter 2111:

Verse 2: And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, pre-pared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Verse 23: And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory ofGod did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

Here an example for the flat arches in another context: the shining walls of Heavenly Jerusalemare presented, as described in Revelation, chapter 21. The small arches are the tops of the walls ofJerusalem, ‘for the glory of God did lighten it’. The famous medieval candelabrum in Aachen ca-thedral, Germany, with its gently curving 12 arches or garlands is interpreted to represent the batt-lements of celestial Jerusalem. In Rev. 21:12 we find: ‚And had a wall great and high, and hadtwelve gates, and the gate twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of thetwelve tribes of the children of Israel’. Jerusalem, as we all know, is until today the spiritual centrefor Jews and the Holy City for Christians and Muslims.

11 http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Revelation-21-22/

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Fig 19: Crucifixion detail: The shining walls ofJerusalem.

Fig. 20: Detail of the top of the wall decorated with a yellowornamental line; “the walls, adorned as a bride”.

Fig. 21: Candelabrum “Celestial Jerusalem”, Cathedral Aachen.


12. Falling stars

The dark sun and the redmoon of the Christian tradi-tion are replaced by a darksky dotted with many fallingstars.

The Falling Stars12 are notreported in the Evangelists’texts of the events of the cru-cifixion, Nadal also do notmention them. Falling starsare used in Christianity ineschatological contexts,found in the Book of Revela-tion 6:13 and 9:1. In Jewishculture evil spirits resided inthe air, and had power toharm nature and humanity.In Jewish thought thereforethe falling stars would not bea cosmic event, but a spiri-tual one: The ‘powers’ repre-sented by the stars are de-

feated and fall down from their thrones on high. The Book of Revelation explains the role of thefalling stars ‘as the key to the pit of the abyss’. The background of the crucifixion is painted as achaotic drama, but not only that, but also as an image of hope at the same time.

The last two details can be interpreted either by Christian or Jewish religious culture. This givesus a first clue on the cultural origin of the painter: I posit here that the painter could have been aconverted Jew, a Christão novo or converso.

13. The thievesThe thieves are depicted very differently from other pictures. The ‘good’ one on Jesus’ right side,who became a believer of Jesus at the cross, is shown in profile. He is made to look ugly. Theother one on Jesus' left side, normally the ‘bad’ one, is shown almost en face. He has just beenbeaten to death, but his face is very restful. He wears a triangular yellow hat.

This detail caught my intense curiosity: What is the meaning of the thief on the left with the yel-low triangular hat? I sent this picture to Prof. Steven Kaplan of the Hebrew University in Jerusa-lem13. He answered immediately and told me about Hamantashen, the traditional triangular yel-low pastry for the Jewish feast of Purim.14

12 I have to thank Prof. Richard Viladesau, New York, for his kind and very helpful hints. E-mail communication onFebruary 22 and 23, 2013.

13 I owe many thanks to Prof. Steven Kaplan, Jerusalem, for opening the door to the conversos. E-mail communicationApril 13, 2013.

14 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim

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Fig. 22: Falling stars, Christ, thieves and crucifrago. Icon, main panel, detail ofthe Crucifixion.


14. The yellow hat and Hamantashen

The yellow hat or triangle is a sign for Haman. Haman was the vizier of king Ahasverus (Xerxesthe Great, 519–465 BC). He hated the Jewish people and planned to eradicate all Jews living inPersia, he had cast the dice or “Pur” to wipe out all Jews; this is described in the Book of Esther.The young Jewish Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai discovered Haman’s evil aims and in-formed the king. Haman and his sons were hanged on the tree, which was prepared for Mordecai,who now was elevated and became vizier. That changed the situation for Jewish people in Persiafrom suppression and persecution to freedom and peace, from pain to joy.

Mordecai ordered officially the annual celebration and commemoration of this event on the four-teenth and fifteenth day of the month Adar, and named this feast ‘Purim’ (Esther 9:20-32). The

customs of this feast commemoratesovercoming evil Haman, expressedthrough the sign of a yellow triangle.This triangular form is interpreted asHaman’s hat or ear, also as the shapeof the dice “Pur”.15

Since ancient time Oriental Jews hada tradition, that the Persian king cru-cified Haman16. Portuguese Jews in

Cochin, India, practiced the custom called ‘Haman and his ten sons’.For Purim they produced dolls or small statues of Haman and his tensons, labeled them with their names and crucified them. After mockingand torturing the dolls, they were burned in effigy.

This custom goes back at least as far as the reign of Theodosius II,ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire (408–450).17 What is striking,

15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamantash16Edgar Wind, 'The crucifixion of Haman', in The Journal of the Warburg Institute. London, 1937-38, vol. 1, 245-248:Edgar Wind refers to the depiction of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel of Haman as a crucified and furthermore toDante: – un crucifisso dispettoso e fiero – (Dante, Purg. XVII, 25-30) as a possible source for this startling exception.Furthermore he refers also to the Theodosian Codex (408 A.D.) as I described it as source for the costume of the CochinJews. I’m very indebted to Dr. Dorothea McEwan for supplying me with this most valuable text.

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Fig. 23 and Fig. 24: Crucifixion details: The right thieve (left side) and the left thief (right side).

Fig. 25: Left thieve with theyellow triangular hat.

Fig. 26: Pastry Hamantashen.


however, is the fact, that all these dolls were thought to be replicas of Jesus.

Moreover Prof. Kaplan pointed out the importance of the Book of Esther for all Jews andChristãos novos, being forced to live in hiding during the time of persecution, in fact during theInquisition. Jews and Christians have incorporated the Book of Esther into their scriptures, butChristians do not know all Jewish traditions.

In the Book of Esther Queen Esther was the heroine of all conversos, a young woman was able tochange the situation for the Jewish people from suppression and persecution to freedom andpeace, from pain to joy.

Before Jesus died on the cross, he cried „My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?“ This isnot only a cry of despair, but a quotation of the first verse of Psalm 22,2. And this psalm expressesboth, despair as well as the certainty of salvation, the same expectation for pain to turn into joy.

I interpret the yellow triangular hat just as a quotation and I pose the hypothesis that the yellowtriangular hat on this icon is the symbol for change, from pain to joy.

The painter was aware of the Jewish Purim traditions and knew the situation of conversos in aChristian society: The Book of Revelation belongs only to the Christian Bible, but uses imagesoriginating in Jewish thoughts such as the falling stars and the shining walls and battlements of Je-rusalem. This type of literature filled with visions and symbolism was widespread in Jewish cir-cles of Qumran at the time when Christ was born.

The painter addresses both, the Ethio-Portuguese community as well as the conversos amongthem. The yellow hat, painted on this icon, is a memory of their origin and a sign of solidarity andunderstanding of their special situation of dissociation and suspicion, sentenced to hide their Jew-ish identity.

The Inquisition on the Iberian Peninsula forced nearly two hundred thousand Jews and conversosinto exile overseas during the 16th century.18 In India the Inquisition caused terror from 1536-1774(abolished in 1812) among the Portuguese and Christian population,19 whilst in Ethiopia, where agroup of Portuguese soldiers lived with their Ethiopian wives and families,20 the Inquisition hadno power. Until 1593 the Society of Jesus was known to harbour converted Jews and providesafety for them in the Society; whilst Iberian conversos ‘were excluded from an increasing num-ber of guilds, religious confraternities, most colleges, religious and military orders, and residencein certain towns’, the Jesuits welcomed them.21 Many were sent as priests and brothers to Indiaand also to Ethiopia.22

18 Peter Feldbauer, Die Portugiesen in Asien – 1498-1620, Essen 2005, 9. 19 António José Saraiva, The Marrano Factory, Appendix IV, The Portuguese Inquisition in Goa (India, 1561-1812),

Leiden 2001, 342-353. 20 Andreu Martinez d’Alos Moner, In the Company of Iyäsus – The Jesuit Mission in Ethiopia, 1557-1632, Doctoral

Dissertation, Hamburg 2008, especially chapter 6 and Appendix 12: Portuguese families in Ethiopia, 1541- ca.1650, 333.

21 Robert Maryks, Invitation for the International Conference “The Tragic Couple”: Encounters between Jews and Je-suits – at Boston College, 9-13 July 2012. http://www.jewishjesuits.com/

22 Wicki, Josef S.J. Die ‘Christovãos novos’ in der Indischen Provinz der Gesellschaft Jesu von Ignatius bis Acquaviva,Archivum historicum Societatis Iesu, 46 (1977), 342-361.

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15. Conclusion

The painter mastered European painting techniques

he cooperated with Ethiopians

he has seen Portuguese soldiers

he was familiar with the images and the spirituality of the Jesuits, he refers to parts of theBible which Jews and Christians have in common, but does understand or interpret themdifferently.

he knew the Portuguese-Jewish tradition in India

and the symbol that hints to Purim and the Book of Esther.

I believe that he was a Jesuit of Christão novo-origin, and was aware of the suffering of hispeople who had to continue to live in hiding.

16. Icon complete

This icon shows the centre of Christian Faith, the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, and a Jew asthe thief on Jesus’ left hand.

With this traditional painting programme, however, enriched with novel symbols such as the reedsceptre on the floor and ‘Jesus being accompanied on his way to the cross’, the European faces ofLonginus, the Portuguese attire and finally the strong images of the falling stars and the walls ofcelestial Jerusalem the painter wanted to console his converted compatriots in a secret way with-out offending the traditional Christian community. He understood the situation that conversos andJesus have common. The fact that Jesus does not hold the reed sceptre shows that he is not a king,but a brother to them. The situation on the way to the cross is the story of companionship. Thesituation in the background of the crucifixion with the falling stars and the shining walls of celes-tial Jerusalem is the goal, that Jews and Christians have in common: All want to arrive at thisspiritual place – leaving behind despair and pain and eventually finding joy.

It is to be hoped that further research will find the painter of this unusual icon on the personnellists of the Jesuit artisans.

I will close with a word of the scripture:

1 Cor 13,12: For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face-to-face: now we know it inpart; but then I shall know even as I am known.

Acknowledgements: I would like to express my very great appreciation to Dr Dorothea McEwan for hervaluable and constructive discussions and suggestions during the planning and development of this article.I thank my friend Elisabeth Karl for baking and serving the Hamantashen during the conference in Vienna.Finally, I wish to thank my husband Dr Friedrich Dworschak for his support and encouragement throughoutmy study.

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Bibliography

Behrmann, Carolin .‘Le monde est une peinture‘ – Zu Louis Richeômes Bildtheorie im Kontext globalerMission’, in: Oy-Marra, Elisabeth und Remmert, Volker R. (Hrsg.) unter Mitarbeit von Kristina Müller-Bongard, Le monde est une peinture – Jesuitische Identität und die Rolle der Bilder, Beiträge zu den Histo-rischen Kulturwissenschaften Bd. 7, Berlin 2011.

Bailey, Gauvin Alexander. Between Renaissance and Barock – Jesuit Art in Rom 1565–1610. Toronto 2003.

Feldbauer, Peter. Die Portugiesen in Asien – 1498-1620, Essen 2005.

Heusinger, Christian von. Das gestochene Bild – von der Zeichnung zum Kupferstich. AusstellungskatalogHerzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig, 1987.

Leuschner, Eckhard. Antonio Tempesta – Ein Bahnbrecher des römischen Barock und seine europäischeWirkung, Petersberg 2005.

Loschek, Ingrid. Reclams Mode und Kostümlexikon, Stuttgart, 5/2005.

O’Malley, John W. ‘The Historiography of the Society of Jesus: Where does It Stand Today?’ in: O’MalleyJohn W., The Jesuits: Cultures, Sciences, and the Arts, 1540-1773, Vol. I, Toronto 1999.

Nadal, Jerome S.J. Annotations and Meditations on the Gospels, Volume I –The Infancy Narratives –2003;Volume II – The Passion Narratives – 2007; Volume III – The Resurrection Narratives– 2005; translatedand edited by Frederick A. Homann, S.J., Philadelphia. (Volume I include very good digital copies of theoriginal edition of 1607).

Martinez d’Alos Moner, Andreu. In the Company of Iyäsus – The Jesuit Mission in Ethiopia, 1557-1632,Doctoral Dissertation, Hamburg 2008.

Maryks, Robert. Invitation for the International Conference “The Tragic Couple”: Encounters betweenJews and Jesuits – at Boston College, 9-13 July 2012. http://www.jewishjesuits.com/

Saraiva, António José. The Marrano Factory, Appendix IV, The Portuguese Inquisition in Goa (India, 1561-1812), Leiden 2001.

Thiel, Erika. Die Geschichte des Kostüms, Berlin: Henschelverlag, 1980.

Wadell, Maj-Brit. Evangelicae Historiae Imagines – Entstehungsgeschichte und Vorlagen, Göteborg 1985-

Wicki, Josef S.J. Die ‘Christovãos novos’ in der Indischen Provinz der Gesellschaft Jesu von Ignatius bisAcquaviva. Archivum historicum Societatis Iesu, 46 (1977).

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Revelation-21-22/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamantash

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim

Photo credits: © Friedrich Dworschak: 2, 5, 16 - 25;© Paula Frechen: 1, 10, 12, 15; © Saint Joseph's University Press, Philadelphia, PA: 3, 4, 6 - 9, 11, 13;© Stephen Bell: 17;Internet: 21, 26.

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The Yellow Hat