Nicolò Brancaleon was a painter born in Venice, whose art left a clear influence in Ethiopia from the reign of Baeda Maryam onwards. During his lifetime in Ethiopia, he was commonly called "Marqorewos". Evidence of his life before arriving in Ethiopia has not been found, according to Paul B. Henze. E. A. Wallis Budge, in his preface to the second edition of his translation of the Kebra Nagast, claims that Brancaleon was a monk who had come to Ethiopia to convert Emperor Zara Yaqob and debated Abba Giyorgis several times on religious matters; Francisco Álvares, who met Brancaleon while accompanying the Portuguese ambassador on his mission to Lebna Dengel in the 1520s, wrote that "they say he was a monk before he came to this country". Brancaleon arrived in Ethiopia between 1480 and 1482, according to an account of Francesco Suriano, who had visited the country, written in the latter year. When he arrived at the court of the Emperor, Suriano found 14 Europeans residing at the court, among whom was "Master Nicolo Branchalion". By the time Álvares met Brancaleon, the painter was very wealthy and well known in Ethiopia — although forbidden by the Emperor to ever leave the country. By this time, he had founded a studio and was unchallenged in his skill at painting icons, illustrating books, and decorating churches. "Brancaleon's images of the martyrdom of Saint George and of the miracles of the Virgin Mary remained fashionable until the eighteenth century." His best known work was a painting of the Madonna and Child that decorated the church of Atronsa Maryam, which caused much controversy. Beckingham and Huntingford, in their notes to their translation of Álvares account, repeat the account from the Paris Chronicle that Brancaleon's work The painting, however, survived for several centuries until it was destroyed in 1704, along with the church, by an Oromo raid. In 1973, the traveller Diana Spencer discovered some examples of Brancaleon's works at Wafa Yesus and at the nearby monastery of Getisamani in the Goncha Gorge, including a work by a previously unknown Ethiopian apprentice. Henze reports that he and Stanislaw Chojnacki verified that these works survived the Derg era. "Though much has been learned about Ethiopian religious art in recent decades, it is still a challenging field where important new discoveries are likely to be made."
