Toros Roslin

Infobox Artist
bgcolour = #6495ED
name = Toros Roslin


imagesize = 150px
caption = Statue of Toros Roslin in front of the entrance of Matenadaran
birthname =
birthdate = 1210
location =
deathdate = 1270
deathplace =
nationality = Armenian
field = Illuminated manuscripts
training =
movement =
works =
patrons = Catholicos Constantine I
Hethum I
influenced by =
influenced =
awards =

Toros Roslin (Lang-hy|Թորոս Ռոսլին; circa 1210 – 1270) [The period between 1210 and 1270 is the estimated lifespan of Roslin according to Professor Levon Chookaszian. See: Cite web
last = Chookaszian
first = Levon
title = Toros Roslin: Biography
publisher = Armenian Studies Program, California State University
url = http://armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/ArmeniaDigitalProject/biography/biography.html
accessdate = 2008-07-26] was the most prominent Armenian manuscript illuminator in the High Middle Ages.Parry, 399] Roslin introduced a wider range of narrative in his iconography based on his knowledge of western European art while continuing the conventions established by his predecessors. Roslin enriched Armenian manuscript painting by introducing new artistic themes such as the Incredulity of Thomas and Passage of the Red Sea. [Cite web
last = Chookaszian
first = Levon
title = Toros Roslin: New themes
publisher = Armenian Studies Program, California State University
url = http://armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/ArmeniaDigitalProject/iconography/New.html
accessdate = 2008-07-26] In addition he revived the genre of royal portraits, the first Cilician royal portraits having been found in his manuscripts. [Cite web
last = Chookaszian
first = Levon
title = Toros Roslin: Royal portraits
publisher = Armenian Studies Program, California State University
url = http://armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/ArmeniaDigitalProject/iconography/royal/Royal.html
accessdate = 2008-07-26] His style is characterized by a delicacy of color, classical treatment of figures and their garments, an elegance of line, and an innovative iconography. [Cite web
last = Kouymjian
first = Dickran
title =Arts of Armenia [Miniatures]
publisher = Armenian Studies Program, California State University
url = http://armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/arts_of_armenia/miniatures.htm
accessdate = 2008-08-07]

The human figures in his illustrations are rendered full of life, representing different emotional states. Roslin's illustrations often occupy the entire surface of the manuscript page and at times only parts of it, in other cases they are incorporated in the texts in harmony with the ensemble of the decoration. [Cite web
last = Hakopyan
first = Hravard
last2 = Korkhmazian
first2 = Emma
title =THE SCHOOL OF MINIATURE PAINTING OF THE CILICIAN ARMENIAN KINGDOM
publisher = Virtual Matenadaran
url = http://www.matenadaran.am/en/heritage/miniature/index.html#6
accessdate = 2008-08-06]

Biography

Little is known about Toros Roslin’s life. He worked at the scriptorium of Hromkla in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia where the patriarchal see was transferred to in 1151. His patrons included Catholicos Constantine I, king Hethum I, his wife Isabella, their children and prince Levon, in particular.Der Nersessian, 51] The colophons in Roslin’s manuscripts permit scholars to partially reconstruct the world in which he lived in.Cite web
last = Chookaszian
first = Levon
title = Toros Roslin: Biography
publisher = Armenian Studies Program, California State University
url = http://armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/ArmeniaDigitalProject/biography/biography.html
accessdate = 2008-07-26] In these colophons Roslin appears as a chronicler, who preserved facts and events of his time. In his earliest surviving manuscript the "Zeytun Gospel of 1256", Roslin signed his name as "Toros surnamed Roslin".Azarian, 323]

Only Armenians of noble origin had a surname in the Middle Ages; however, the surname of Roslin does not figure among the noble Armenian families. [Professor Charles Dowsett pointed to similarities with the Middle High German word "roeslin" meaning small rose. See: Citation
title = Quelques ouvrages récents sur l'art médiéval arménien
journal = Cahiers de civilisation médiévale
volume = 16
pages = p. 218
year = 1973] Roslin may have been an offspring of one of the marriages common between Armenians and Franks (any person originating in Catholic western Europe) that were frequent among the nobility but occurred among the lower classes as well. Roslin also names his brother Anton and asks the readers to recall the names of his teachers in their prayers. Professor Levon Chookaszian, head of the Chair of UNESCO and Chair of Armenian Art History at Yerevan State University, proposed a more detailed explanation of the appearance of this surname in the Armenian milieu. According to the professor, the surname Roslin originated from Henry Sinclair of the Clan Sinclair, baron of Roslin who accompanied Godfrey of Bouillon in the 1096 Crusade to Jerusalem. Chookaszian’s hypothesis is based on the assumption that like most prominent Crusaders of the time [Godfrey’s brother Baldwin married Arda of Armenia, his successor Baldwin of Bourcq married Morphia of Melitene, Joscelin I married Beatrice etc. See: fr icon cite book
last = Sirarpie
first = Der Nersessian
title = L'Art Armenien des origines au XVIIe siecle
publisher = Arts et Methiers Graphiques
location=Paris
date = 1977
pages = p. 135] , Sinclair married an Armenian.

The approximate dates of Roslin's birth and death can be determined using the dates of his manuscripts. At the time one could only achieve the level of mastery displayed in the "Zeytun Gospel of 1256" no earlier than at the age of 25. In the colophon of the "Gospel of 1260", Roslin mentions that he has a son, indicating that he was likely a priest since a monk would have no children while a member of the laity would likely not have been an illuminated manuscript painter. Based on the following it can be assumed that Roslin was at least 30 in 1260. By the time of the "Gospel of 1265", Roslin already had his own apprentices. Roslin painted two portraits of prince Levon, the earliest of which was executed in 1250 [The miniature decorates a parchment folio currently within MS No. 8321 in Matenadaran. See: Citation
last = Chookaszian
first = Levon
title = Remarks on the Portrait of Prince Levon (MS Erevan 8321)
journal = Revue des Etudes Armenienne
volume = 25
pages = 299-335
year = 1995
doi = 10.2143/REA.25.0.2003784] (the prince was born in 1236) and the second in 1262 showing the prince with his bride Keran of Lampron. Roslin's name isn't seen on any manuscript dated after 1286 and he most likely passed away in the 1270's. [Azarian, 329] None of Roslin's contemporaries or his pupils refer to him in their work and in the following centuries, his name is only mentioned once when the scribe Mikayel working in Sebastea in the late 17th century found in his monastery a gospel book illustrated in 1262 by the "famous scribe Roslin" which he later copied. [Citation
last = Der Nersessian
first = Sirarpie
title = Armenian Manuscripts in the Freer Gallery of Art
journal = Oriental Studies
publisher=Smithsonian Institution
volume = 6
pages = p. 90
year = 1963]

Manuscripts

igned by Roslin

Seven manuscripts have been preserved that bear the signature of Roslin, they are made between 1256 and 1268 five of which are copied and illustrated by Roslin.Azarian, 322] Of these four are owned by the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem located in the Cathedral of St. James. These include the "Gospel of 1260" (MS No. 251) copied for Catholicos Constantine I.Der Nersessian, 52] The "Gospel of 1262" (MS No. 2660) was commissioned by Prince Levon, copied at Sis by the scribe Avetis, illustrated by Roslin at Hromkla and bound by Arakel Hnazandents. [The amount of work it took to copy and illustrate the Sebastia gospel which was completed in the same year is probably the reason why the copying of the manuscript was assigned to the scribe Arakel. Der Nersessian, 52] The "Gospel of 1265" (MS No. 1965) was copied for the daughter of Constantine of Lampron, lady Keran who after the death of her husband Geoffrey, lord of Servandakar, retired from the world.Der Nersessian, 53] "Mashtots" (MS No. 2027) was commissioned in 1266 by bishop Vartan of Hromkla, copied by Avetis who had previously collaborated with Roslin in 1262 at Sis and illustrated by Roslin at Hromkla.

The "Sebastia Gospel of 1262" (MS No. 539) is located in Baltimore's Walters Art Museum. It was copied for the priest Toros, nephew of Catholicos Constantine I. Written in uncials it is the most lavishly decorated among the signed works of Roslin. The manuscript was kept in Sivas since the 17th century where it remained until the deportation of Armenians in 1919. Ten years later it was purchased by American rail magnate Henry Walters in Paris, whose long standing interest in Armenian art was rekindled by the tragic events of the previous decade. His wife Sadie Walters donated the manuscript to the Walters Art Museum in 1935. [Johnston, 203] The "Zeytun Gospel of 1256" (MS No. 10450) copied for Catholicos Constantine I and the "Malatia Gospel of 1268" (MS No. 10675) are located at the Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts in Yerevan. The manuscript (formerly MS No. 3627) was presented to Catholicos Vazgen I as a gift by Archbishop Yeghishe Derderian, patriarch of Jerusalem. The Catholicos in turn gave the manuscript to the institute. The manuscript was commissioned by Catholicos Constantine I as a present for the young prince and future king Hethum. [Der Nersessian, 53-54] In the colophons of the manuscript Roslin describes the brutal sack of the Principality of Antioch by the Mamluk Sultan Baibars: "...at this time great Antioch was captured by the wicked king of Egypt, and many were killed and became his prisoners, and a cause of anguish to the holy and famous temples, houses of God, which are in it; the wonderful elegance of the beauty of those which were destroyed by fire is beyond the power of words." [Hazard, 137]

Canon tables and ornaments

The principal innovation of Roslin in regards to ornaments within canon tables is the addition of bust portraits.Der Nersessian, 75] In the Gospel of 1262 (MS No. 2660), Eusebius and Carpianus are represented as full figures standing in the outer margins of the Letter of Eusebius. Roslin also represented prophets such as David, Moses and John the Baptist. [Der Nersessian, 64] This system was highly unusual for canon table decoration, for although portraits of prophets had been represented next to canon tables as early as the sixth-century Syriac Rabbula Gospels, their relationship to the gospels was not made explicit through the quotation of their messianic prophecies. [Der Nersessian, 65] New zoomorphic creatures are also added to the usual repertoire of winged sphinxes and sirens such as dog or goat headed men carrying branches of flowers along with various quadrupeds and birds. On the first page of each gospel and the beginning of pericopes floral as well as zoomorphic letters are formed utilizing peacocks or other creatures. [Der Nersessian, 76]

Attributions

Several contemporary manuscripts from the 13th century, devoid of colophons have sometimes been attributed to Roslin. MS 8321, the mutilated remains of which were formerly at Nor Nakhichevan and now in Yerevan, was commissioned by Catholicos Constantine I as a present for his godchild prince Levon. Prince Levon's portrait was bound by mistake in MS 7690 and was returned to its original place. A dedicatory inscription which faced the portrait has been lost. The portrait shows the prince in his teens wearing a blue tunic decorated with lions passant in gold roundels with a jeweled gold band at the hem. Two angels, in light blue and pink draperies, hold their rhipidia (liturgical fans) above the prince's head. Stylistically these pieces are much closer to the ones painted by Roslin than those of other artists at Hromkla who were still active in the 1250's. [Der Nersessian, 54] Another mutilated manuscript, MS 5458 located in Yerevan is often assigned to Roslin. Thirty-eight vellum leaves from the Gospel of John have been incorporated into the manuscript in the late 14th or early 15th century in Vaspurakan.

The priest Hovhannes who salvaged the remains of the old manuscript reports in one of the colophons that he had suffered seeing the old manuscript fall into the hands of the "infidels" like "a lamb delivered to wolves" and that he renovated it so that the "royal memorial written in it might not be lost". Part of the original colophons, the "royal memorial" reports that the manuscript was written in the see of Hromkla in 1266 for the king Hethum. The uncials are identical to that of MS 539 and similar marginal ornaments adorn both. [Der Nersessian, 55] Yet another manuscript attributed to Roslin and his assistants is MS 32.18 currently located at the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The colophons are lost but the name of the sponsor, Prince Vassak (brother of king Hethum I) is written on the marginal medallion on page 52: "Lord bless the baron Vassak" and again on the upper band of the frame around the Raising of Lazarus: "Lord have mercy on Vassak, Thy servant, the owner of this, Thy holy Gospel". The uncials and the ornaments match those of MS 539 and MS 5458. [Der Nersessian, 55-56] Prince Vassak was sent to Cairo by his brother in 1268 to pay ransom and obtain the release of prince Levon and thousands of other hostages captured after the disastrous Battle of Mari. They returned home on June 24, 1268. At this time Roslin had already completed the copy and illustrations of MS 10675 and his chief patron, Catholicos Constantine I having died, Roslin would have been free to work for another patron such as prince Vassak who had a reason to celebrate. [Der Nersessian, 56]

Iconography

Among Roslin's various miniatures on the theme of the Nativity, the Nativity scene of the Gospel of 1260 (MS No. 251) stands out the most. Mary and the Child are presented seated on the throne near a grotto combined with in the lower angle with the portrait of Matthew the Evangelist, in reverse proportional correlation. The combination of the two scenes was originally developed in Constantinople during the Comnenian era and reinterpreted by Roslin.Cite web
last = Chookaszian
first = Levon
title = Toros Roslin: Iconography - Nativity
publisher = Armenian Studies Program, California State University
url = http://armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/ArmeniaDigitalProject/iconography/nativity/Nativity.html#3
accessdate = 2008-09-27] Another unique attribute of this composition is seen in the top right corner where the bodyguards of the Magi, who are mentioned in apocryphal gospel accounts as soldiers who accompanied the Magi, are represented as Mongols. Art historian Sirarpie Der-Nersessian suggests that Roslin, "bearing in mind that the Magi came from the East,...has represented the bodyguards with the facial type and costume of the Oriental peoples best known to him, namely the Mongols, the allies of king of Cilicia [Hethum I] ." [cite journal
last = Folda
first = Jaroslav
authorlink = Jaroslav Folda
title = The Figural Arts in Crusader Syria and Palestine, 1187-1291: Some New Realities
journal = Dumbarton Oaks Papers
volume = 58
pages = pp. 315-331
publisher = Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University
year = 2004
url = http://www.jstor.org/stable/3591390
accessdate =2008-09-27]

Legacy

Sirarpie Der-Nersessian devoted the longest chapter in her posthumously published magnum opus "Miniature Painting in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia" to Toros Roslin whose work she had researched for years. In the chapter she underlines: "Roslin's ability to convey deep emotion without undue emphasis," and in describing one of Roslin's scenes she extols: "The compositional design, the delicate modeling of the individual figures, and the subtle color harmonies show Roslin’s work at its best, equaling in artistic quality some of the finest Byzantine miniatures." [Kouymjian, D., "Sirarpie Der Nersessian (1896-1989). Pioneer of Armenian Art History, p.489 from cite book
last = Chance
first = Jane
title = Women Medievalists and the Academy
publisher = University of Wisconsin Press
year = 2005
pages = 1073
isbn=0299207501]

Armenian-American abstract expressionist painter Arshile Gorky was a great admirer of Roslin and in one his letters to his sister in 1944 he wrote: "Toros Roslin is the Renaissance. What electricity the man contains. For me, he is the greatest artist the world produced before the modern age and his use of dimension is exceeded solely by his cubism. Masterful dimensionality, unsurpassed. I bow before our Toros." [Bedrosian, 212]

A 3.4 meter high statue of Toros Roslin made of basalt was erected in 1967 in front of the entrance of Matenadaran. The statue was designed by Mark Grigoryan and sculpted by Arsham Shahinyan. [Khanjyan, 118] A fine arts academy named after Toros Roslin was founded in 1981 by the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Association in Beirut, Lebanon. [cite web
title = HAMAZKAYIN IN LEBANON
publisher = Hamazkayin
url = http://www.hamazkayin.com/organizations_regions-chapters.php?Lang=en&regionID=12
accessdate =2008-08-06]

Gallery

Notes

References

*cite book
last = Der Nersessian
first = Sirarpie
title = Miniature Painting in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from the Twelfth to the Fourteenth Century
publisher = Dumbarton Oaks
year = 1993
pages = 620
isbn=0884022021
*hy icon cite book
last = Azarian
first = Levon
coauthors=et al.
title = Prominent figures of Armenian culture, V - XVIII centuries («ՀԱՅ ՄՇԱԿՈՒՅԹԻ ՆՇԱՆԱՎՈՐ ԳՈՐԾԻՉՆԵՐԸ, V - XVIII ԴԱՐԵՐ»)
publisher = Yerevan State University Publishing
date = 1976
pages = 578
*cite book
last =Parry
first =Ken
title =The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity
publisher =Wiley-Blackwell
edition =1
date =July 20, 2007
pages =528
isbn =0631234233
*cite book
last =Bedrosian
first =Margaret
title =The Magical Pine Ring: Culture and the Imagination in Armenian-American Literature
publisher =Wayne State University Press
year =1992
pages =249
isbn =0814323391
*cite book |first=Artush | last =Khanjyan |title =The Monuments of Yerevan |publisher = VMV-Print | pages = 144| date =2004| isbn=99941-920-1-9
*cite book
last = Hazard
first = Harry W.
coauthors = Setton, Kenneth M.
title = A History of the Crusades, Volume IV: The Art and Architecture of the Crusader States
chapter= III: Ecclesiastical Art in the Crusader States in Palestine and Syria
publisher = University of Wisconsin Press
date = September 15, 1977
edition = 1st
pages = 448
isbn = 029906820X
*cite book
last = R. Johnston
first = William
title = William and Henry Walters: The Reticent Collectors
publisher = JHU Press
year = 1999
location = Baltimore, MD
pages = 309
isbn =0801860407

Further reading

*cite book
last =Drampian
first =Irina
title =Toros Roslin
publisher =Tigran Metz Publishing House
year =2000
location=Yerevan
pages =300
isbn =