Illuminations and   
Illuminators

I beseech you to remember in the Lord Jesus the unworthy painter T'oros, who labored later. (inscription on p. 453 of the Gladzor Gospels)

The Gladzor Gospels scribes and painters used the Vehap'ar Gospels (Gospels of His Holiness, Matenadaran MS 10780) from the early 11th century as their exemplar (model). The two thirds of illustrations occur in the same position in the text, and are composed in the same way in the both manuscripts. However, the design and copying of the exemplar was not done slavishly. The compositions are much more elaborate, with richer background and detail. The color palette, illuminated initials, marginal pericopes made of birds and foliage, all are the elements of contemporary Cilician school (from 12th to 14th century).

In monasteries and monastic schools, all students were schooled in the art of writing, however the training in painting and illumination was less common. Therefore, with some notable exceptions, most of the illuminators were coming from the ranks of the higher clergy. As they were often schooled outside Armenia, they show significant the influence of Byzantine schools. The manuscripts produced in Cilicia betray the influence of Europe because the extensive contact the kingdom had with Crusaders and Italian merchants. In older Armenian manuscripts, it is common that a series of the illustrated pages precede text of the Gospel, as kind of visual introduction into the text. The Cilician school changes that and gives that function to the evangelist incipit pages and that evangelist portrait-incipit page become the significant element of their manuscript design.

The idiosyncrasy of the Gladzor Gospels are the ten pages of Christ's genealogy, with names and small portraits of the Christ's ancestors, including the Mother of God. The importance that is given to the tracing the lineage of Christ, reflect the place hereditary class system has in Armenian society and hierarchy of the church. Furthermore, the usual iconographies of the New Testament, as understood in Europe or Byzantium, have particularly Armenian treatment. Nine of the illustrations deal with the Christ as healer - curing the blind, leprous, rising dead - giving special significance to this aspect of his nature rarely elaborated in Europe.

The structure of the Gladzor Gospel reveals that the work on the manuscript was done in two separate stages. The text was copied first and spaces were left for illustrations. The two artists with a distinctive style started with the canon and incipit pages. Then the group of painters with completely different painting style and color palette proceeded. Something interrupted the work of the first scribes and illuminators in the original scriptorium - Mongol attack or some similar misfortune - and, after some time lapse, work continued in Gladzor. The monasteries of Eghegis, Noravank', and Gladzor are in the same region although falling under protection of different nakharar (feudal) families. However, as the colophon of Baroness Vakhakh shows, these two families quite often intermarried intertwining their fortunes and patronages.

Illuminators of the first scriptorium. The painting style of this scriptorium was in direct tradition with the best of the artists of the Cilician school, arguably the height of medieval Armenian manuscript painting. The tradition is known for clear, vivid colors, primary palette, detail ornament and generous use of gold leaf.

Canon Table Painter (the First Painter) He is a painter with a superb feeling and skill for ornament and detail. He painted the Canon Tables, most of initials and marginal ornaments. He uses bright primary colors, characteristic of the Cilician color palette. He draws strongly on the iconography of the heavenly garden, common in Persian and Islamic illuminations.

Evangelist Painter (the Second Painter) His style is similar to one of the Canon Table Painter, showing common scriptorium school. He paints well defined details, with clean, bright colors smoothly blended. He painted portraits of evangelists and the incipit pages of gospels as well as the Genealogy of Christ (pages 28-35, comprising of 44 figures). The folds on robes follow Byzantine tradition and body volume is indicated only in most schematic way. In the pigment analysis of the codex it is shown that for his blue hues, he used exclusively azurite pigment.

Illuminators of the second scriptorium. The overall painting technique of this scriptorium is sketchy and rugged, and the faces have strong traces of Oriental influence, probably from an Early Christian or Islamic models. The names given to the painters of this scriptorium are based on their method in laying down the successive colors in painting faces.

Painter of the Green Ground (the Third Painter). He starts his faces with the background of green color, which is the darkest shading. On that background, he adds lighter colors, sketching features with grey and than adding brown of hair, and than outlines cheeks, chin and forehead in white. He finishes his paintings with black shading. He uses dark, earthy colors, with strong brush work. The backgrounds of his paintings are schematic or painted with one solid color.

Painter of the Olive Ground (the Fourth Painter) His faces are underlined with ruddy color, enhanced with shadows in gray. He adds highlight on the cheeks and outlining of facial features in a reddish-brown. His brush stroke is similar to the Painter of the Green Ground, but colors are brighter and faces are lighter, probably because many of them are "touched-up" by T'oros Taronec'i.

T'oros of Taron [T'oros Taronec'i or the Fifth Painter] He identifies himself in inscriptions on the pages 227 and 453 of the manuscript. T'oros is well known Armenian painter and a dozen or more of his manuscripts survive; the Gladzor Gospels are presumed his formative work. His style is close to the Painter of the Olive Ground, but he starts his facial background with creamy flash tone onto which he adds outline of green around the eyes and nose. He finishes his work with the black outline. As with all painters of the second (Gladzor) scriptorium, and not uncommon for the Armenian tradition, all attention is on the figures, while background is empty, roughly indicated or colored solid.

Beside the different painting styles and color palette, the pigment analysis confirmed that the mixture of the pigments differs so much between the two groups that they can be explained only as the work of two different scriptoriums. The pigment mixtures were proprietary for each scriptorium and considered a trade secret and passed down from generation to generation. [Details about pigments in Codicology of the manuscript]

The 13th century Armenian manuscript from Cilicia
from The Pierpont Morgan Library digital catalog...

... more examples of the Armenian art of illuminating
in virtual gallery at ArmSite.com.

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Bibliography:

Cowe, P. (1997). Medieval Armenian literary and cultural trends: Twelfth-seventeenth centuries. In R. G. Hovannisian (Ed.), The Armenian people from ancient to modern times (Vol. I, pp. 293-325). New York: St. Martin's Press.

Mathews, T. F. (2001). The Armenian Gospels of Gladzor: The life of Christ illuminated. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum.

Mathews, T.F. and Wieck, R.S. (Ed.). (1994). Treasures in heaven: Armenian illuminated manuscripts. New York: The Pierpont Morgan Library.

Orna, M. and Mathews, T.F. (1981). Pigment analysis of the Glajor Gospel book of UCLA. Studies in Conservation, 26(2), pp. 57-72.

Sanjian, A.K. (1999). Medieval Armenian manuscripts at the University of California, Los Angeles. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Copyright 2006, Vlasta Radan, all rights reserved.