01 Painting, Middle East Artists, Adham Wanly's Le monastère copte, désert de Mariut/ The Coptic Monastery, Mariut Desert, with Footnotes, #56

Adham Wanly, 1908-1959, EGYPTIAN

Le monastère copte, désert de Mariut/ The Coptic Monastery, Mariut Desert, c. 1953

Oil on paper

28,5 x 33,5 cm

Private collection

The late Pope Kyrillos VI established this Coptic Orthodox monastery in 1959 in commemoration of Saint Mina (Menas), his patron saint, in an isolated desert area very close to the archaeological site and historical city of Abu Mena in Mariut, near Alexandria, Egypt.

Abu Mena is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and was once an important Christian pilgrimage site during the 4th to 7th cent. A.D. Numerous little clay bottles (ampullae), on which Saint Mina's name and picture are engraved, were discovered by archeologists in diverse countries around the world, such as Heidelberg, Germany; Milan, Italy; Dalmatia, Croatia; Marseille, France; Dengla, Sudan; and Jerusalem. These pottery ampullae (small holy water and oil flasks brought from pilgrimage places as a souvenir, and mass-produced in Early Byzantine times) come from Abu Mena, near Alexandria in Egypt.

Countless miracles have happened and continue to happen until this day there through the intercessions of Saint Mina the Martyr, Pope Kyrillos VI and the late Abba Mina Ava-Mina (late abbot of the new monastery), whose relics (all three) are preserved in the monastery. More on the Coptic Monastery, Mariut Desert

Adham Wanly (1908 in Alexandria, Egypt – 1959) was a painter who learnt in the atelier of the Italian Otorino Becchi 1932, then set up his own atelier with his brother Seif Wanly (above), and participated in many local and international exhibition specially Venice, São Paulo (Brasil), Alexandria Biennale.

The Museum of Modern Art in Alexandria displays many of his paintings. The artist is mostly famous for recording the life of the theater and circus. He specialized in the ballet and opera that is featured in the Cairo Opera House and the Theatre Mohamed Ali in Alexandria. The paintings render the stage lights and movements of the people involved and he is able to express the light and agility in various ways. He had a talent in caricature in which he used in mockery of himself and the people of his time. There is now a museum in his memory. More on Adham Wanly

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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