''Alchitrof'' is the name of a

1568 Year 1568 ( MDLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 6 – In the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom, the delegates of Unio Trium Nationum to the Diet of Torda convene i ...

painting by

Cristofano dell'Altissimo Cristofano dell'Altissimo (–1605) was an Italian painter in Florence. For duke Cosimo I de' Medici he copied in Como at least 280 of the portraits from the Collection of Paolo Giovio known as the Giovio Series (484 in total). Most of them can b ...

that depicts an ''

Aethiopia Ancient Aethiopia, () first appears as a geographical term in classical documents in reference to the skin color of the inhabitants of the upper Nile in northern Sudan, of areas south of the Sahara, and of certain areas in Asia. Its earliest men ...

n'' king.

Background

16th century

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

historian and biographer

Paolo Giovio Paolo Giovio (also spelled ''Paulo Jovio''; Latin: ''Paulus Jovius''; 19 April 1483 – 11 December 1552) was an Italian physician, historian, biographer, and prelate. Early life Little is known about Giovio's youth. He was a native of Co ...

(1483–1552) assembled a series of 484 portraits, known as the

Giovio Series The Giovio Series, also known as the Giovio Collection or Giovio Portraits, is a series of 484 portraits assembled by the 16th-century Italian Renaissance historian and biographer Paolo Giovio. It includes portraits of literary figures, rulers, s ...

. These portraits included, but were not limited to, rulers, statesmen and literary figures. Much of the original collection is now lost, but it is preserved in a series of at least 280 copies made by the Italian painter

(c. 1525–1605). From the surviving copies by Cristifano, two portraits are of Ethiopian monarchs. The first of these was of Emperor

Lebna Dengel Dawit II (; – 2 September 1540), also known by the macaronic name Wanag Segad (ወናግ ሰገድ, ''to whom the lions bow''), better known by his birth name Lebna Dengel (, ''essence of the virgin''), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 150 ...

(r. 1508–1540) while the other was of a king named "Alchitrof".

Historicity

Alchitrof is not named in any Ethiopian regnal lists. The portrait of Alchitrof includes a feathered headdress and three rings on his lower lip, features which do not match with what is known about Ethiopian custom and culture during the period when the portrait was painted. It is possible that "Alchitrof" is not meant to be real person but rather "a fantastic approach" from a European perspective. Kate Lowe, a professor of Renaissance history, suggested that the name "Alchitrof" may be a corruption of the name of

's eldest son al-Fiqtur. Lowe also suggested there may be a "mismatch" between the image and its inscription, as the clothing and jewellery are often used in reference to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

rather than

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

Renaissance art Renaissance art (1350 – 1620) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occurr ...

. Additionally, Lowe argued that "Achitrof" may be an "imagined Brazilian, Carib or

Amerindian In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

chief or ruler" with his facial features being inspired by "more realistic physiognomic features taken from

black African Black is a racial classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and ofte ...

s in Europe". Alternatively, Alchitrof may not have been a king in the modern-day territory of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, but rather that the term "

" that is used refers to a more generalized region covering much of

and thus Alchitrof, if he existed, may have been king of a totally different geographical region to that of

. The modern-day region of

was frequently called "

Abyssinia Abyssinia (; also known as Abyssinie, Abissinia, Habessinien, or Al-Habash) was an ancient region in the Horn of Africa situated in the northern highlands of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea.Sven Rubenson, The survival of Ethiopian independence, ...

" by the Europeans at the time the painting was made and the painting of Lebna Dengel specifically calls him the "Great King of the Abyssinians" instead of "Aethiopia" as used in the portrait of Alchitrof, suggesting that the original artist (or copier) deliberately chose to differentiate their regions of rule. Dr. Emil Krén and Dr. Daniel Marx suggested that Alchitrof did not look "

Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

" because ''

'' extended into modern-day

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

References

{{ref list 1560s paintings 16th-century portraits Legendary Ethiopian people Paintings of black people Portraits by Italian artists Portraits of men

Background

Historicity

See also

References