ART HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION

 

ENTERING THE 13th CENTURY WITH TOROS ROSLIN

Photo: ST. THEODORE by the Anonymous Painter of SYUNIQ

Each page of the manuscripts was decorated and illustrated with birds, floral pattern, delicate circular and rectangular patterns and constructions, green branches, trees, flowers, roses, plants, vines, all kinds of lines, from the straight to the curved and from the circular to the rectangular. The margins of the page began to look like a rich fabric with multi-colors and ornamental presentations. Those ornamentations incorporated a wide and a rich variety of motifs and  creative forms of decoration, floral circular illustrations with gentle curves, branches of trees painted carefully with delicate precision and attention to details. The dark and somber colors of the old and aging style  were replaced by vibrant, sunny and brighter colors. Even the thickness of paint applied to the parchments , papers, pages, covers and media got thicker, deeper, heavier and richer.

 The artists began to paint “generously” not worrying about how much paint and colors should they use, apply or spend in their creative work. The Cilician style was rich in color and multi-varied in motifs and figures. Its ornamental design was  richer and more varied than the Byzantine style. It had an elegant flair to it, an austere simplicity with complex compositions without becoming heavily over-ornamental as it was the case with the Byzantine art which incorporated a dense  profusion of Islamic decoration, illustrations, figurines and ornamental geometrical and curved constructional patterns. In addition, the Cilician style brought to light some very new and innovative features such imaginary creatures , human figures and  animal heads replacing the  Byzantine leaves in floral scrolls. This artistic innovation and novelty are evident in the paintings of the leader and pioneer Toros Roslin (More on him, later)  At the beginning, Armenians used Byzantine art motifs, figures, drawings, illustrations and Byzantine painting techniques as source for their new style and as a model for their manuscripts,  however, they added  traits, figures, features and illustrations of their own creativity and innovation.

 For instance,  by the mid of the 11^th  century, canon tables and canon pages were framed  and illustrated by drawings of trees and branches, griffins and fantastic animals with human heads around the canon tables; those are additions and a purely Armenian novelty which did not exist in Byzantine art. By the end of the 12^th  century the Armenian manuscripts have acquired their own ethnic/national identity and artistic characteristics and consequently became free of foreign influences, thus they were no longer dependent on Byzantine style models to paint and illustrate their illuminated manuscripts and miniatures. Thousands of  Cilician manuscripts were produced  and re-copied during  medieval Armenia. A very few number  of illuminated manuscripts survived. Fortunately, some of the best works of the ancient masters are well-preserved and well-kept in the MATENADARAN which is the official Armenian Collection-Archives of Manuscripts in the capital Erevan (Yerevan), Armenia. Armenian artists  and particularly Cilician artists worked with several media, mixed media and elements such as: stone, wood, metal, lace, textiles, fabrics, linens, clothes,  books, printing, books bindings, parchments,  figures embossing, papers, jewelry, icons, relics, figurines, glasses, pottery, ceramics, titles, silver, gold, bronze, iron, numerous metals, tafta, terra cotta,  manuscripts, illustrations, miniatures, portraitures, painting, mosaic, etc. But,  the predominant art form was painting which was considered more than art; a necessity and a duty for the decoration  of  Armenian churches and cathedrals. Painting art was blessed by the Armenian church and honored by the natives.  Decorating a church was considered a sacred art and illustrating/painting a holly manuscript was considered as a sacred duty. Religion dominated all aspects and facets of Armenian life.