The ultimate gift for the person who has everything: a set of four icons that were originally commissioned for a chapel in the Vatican. Present them to the person you love or donate them to a museum, church, or school on his or her behalf. Wherever they are displayed, these unique icons will always be a source of spiritual and mystical inspiration. Take a moment of quiet contemplation in front of these icons and you will feel at peace and renewed.
In 1961, Myriam Ghali won a commission from the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Art to paint four icons for the chapel of Pontifical Ethiopian College in the Vatican. Monsignor Giovanni Fallani, President of the Commission, praised "the authenticity of the icons that bear the stamp of a tradition and of a people, translated into a contemporary expression." The roots of the Coptic art represented in these icons are in Egypt and Ethiopia.
Myriam Ghali was probably the only woman to have been commissioned to create art for the Vatican. The icons are signed by the artist and come with a certificate of authenticity and two letters from the Vatican with raised seals.
The icons are five feet high and are painted on wood panels. The wood surface was painstakingly prepared by applying successive layers of case arti (a casein-based product) and sanding by hand between each layer until a surface as smooth as glass was achieved. This exacting process ensures the icons will last for centuries like their predecessors.
Myriam Ghali has executed numerous Christian art commissions throughout the world, including for St. Raymond's Cathedral in the U.S., the Crocevia chapel in Rome, and St. Rock's church in Lebanon.
The artist's non-religious paintings are found in the most prestigious public and private collections in the U.S., Europe, Africa, and Asia, embassies, presidential palaces, ministries, UNESCO…
