The monasteries of the Ethiopian Tewahedo Church that cluster on islands and along the shores of Lake Tana represent some of the most impressive testaments to the artistic achievements of Ethiopian church painters. These monasteries are, however, relatively little studied in relation to the better known and earlier rock-hewn churches of Tigray in the north, or the impressive cluster of monolithic churches at Lalibela in central Ethiopia. Yet their historical role within the recent periods of both Ethiopian ecclesiastical and political history cannot be underestimated. Dr Bosc-Tiessé's book, which is based upon her 2001 PhD thesis, is therefore a timely and welcome contribution to the study of Ethiopian cultural history in the post-medieval period.

This work is based upon extensive fieldwork in the monasteries of Lake Tana, and is buttressed by study of primary documents (drawn from a variety of foreign and Ethiopian monastic libraries). Skilfully weaving together these elements, the author essentially gives us a chronological overview of the development of these monastic centres from the thirteenth century, by focusing mainly upon the development of royal patronage and its influence upon artistic production in the monasteries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a period that is conventionally known by Ethiopianist art historians as embracing the first and second Gondarene styles of painting. It is important to stress that the Lake monasteries of Tana have not been wholly ignored historically: many foreign travellers and latterly a number of scholars have written on the main sites in varying degrees of detail, but these descriptive accounts, valuable as they are, do not see the bigger picture: the role of the monasteries as important artistic centres and their impact and influence upon the byzantine and Machiavellian worlds of the Gondarene court. Highlighting these aspects is the true value of this book.

The first section of the book sets the scene. The development of the monastic communities here from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century is considered, especially against the background of wider national monastic schisms and controversies (such as that of Saint Ewostatewos in the late thirteenth century), which doubtlessly contributed to the coalescence of new monastic communities in the newly Christianized areas of Dambeya, Gojjam, and Bagemder. Problematic issues such as regional differentiation, dating, and the emergence of the Gondarene style are all contextualized and critiqued, and against this background, we begin to see, in the early seventeenth century, the centralization of urban and royal power in the Gondar region to the north of Lake Tana, a process that would put the monasteries of Lake Tana – formerly fringe players – onto centre stage.

The second section analyses the emergence of royal patronage from the reign of King Iyassu I (1682–1706) and its impact upon the monasteries; new artistic conventions and subject matter were just part of this process. Iyassu in particular felt a strong attachment to place: his creation of a royal necropolis at Mesraha was part of the process of bringing the monasteries into the royal realm, melding secular and ecclesiastical power together.

The third section brings us to the construction and embellishment of the royal monastery par excellence, that of Narga Sellassie (itself the subject of a detailed monograph by Mario di Salvo, 1999) during the reign of Iyassu II (1730–55). Here we reach the zenith of imperial involvement with the institution of the monastery; enrichment and embellishment attest to the involvement at many different levels of the varied imperial and feudal figures in the politics of the Church.

This is a fascinating and rich consideration of a hugely interesting period of Ethiopian history. With the establishment of at least a fairly settled capital at Gondar, the region became the stage upon which many different political plots and scenes were played out; these power relations were mapped onto the monastic communities, no longer mere places of prayer and contemplation, but now centres of wealth and key players on the secular stage themselves.

If there are weaknesses in the book, we may perhaps wish for more theoretical and contextual consideration of the place of patronage and religious art in the wider world; a nod to the work of Wendy Davies on the role of patronage in the early medieval Welsh church occurs, but there is potentially much more that could have been investigated, including perhaps the work of the present reviewer on the visibility of the gult (land-holding) system of medieval Ethiopia and its economic implications. The book's production qualities are adequate, though some images would benefit from being sharper (a key weakness in a book that deals with artistic representation). These are minor issues, however. This book gives us much to think about and ought to act as a springboard for more multidisciplinary work on an unusual monastic landscape (or waterscape?).