Искусство Армении. Черты историко-художественного развития

Headpieces to Eusebius’ Letters to Carpianus might include portraits of either or both. However, these pages were often treated ornamentally. The introductory folios with the Canon tables or/and the Letters , were usually followed by a cycle of full ‐ page illuminations whose composition depended upon the date and origin of the manuscript. But the Annunciation , the Nativity , the Baptism , the Crucifixion , the Ascension , and the Descent of the Holy Spirit were al ‐ ways there. The pictorial cycle was followed by the four Gospels, each of them preceded by an image of the Evangelist, with a decorative headpiece on the opening page. Early Armenian manuscripts were written on parchment; paper did not appear until much later. Manuscripts in the second period (12th to 14th centuries) also have a certain artistic unity in their main features. It was in this period that illumination developed into book illustration proper which, though it had its own peculiarities, still conformed to the rules of manuscripts illumination. The manuscripts become smaller, and are no longer for religious services, but rather for private use in monastery or family libraries. As for design in the newer manuscripts, headpieces, ornate initials, marginal decorations become more varied and elaborate. A certain balance is established at that time between the narrative and the purely ornamental decor. The mid ‐ 13th ‐ century Cilician school is unique in the brilliance of illumination. For masters of that school an illuminated Gospel manuscript has value, both religious and aesthetic. It is a complete entity. In the scriptoria of large Cilician monasteries, scribe, binder and illuminator always worked as a team. Often a master could do all three. Thus we are justified in suspecting that both the script and the illumination of many manuscripts were produced by the same hand. A case in point is Thoros Roslin, who is known to have been both an outstanding artist and one of the best Cilician calligraphers. In the Vaspurakan (Van) school, the main accent was on the narrative; on a meticulous but matter ‐ of ‐ fact telling of the events in the Gospels. In this Vaspurakan manuscripts contrast sharply with the Cilician. Although there were several branches within that school, they were all united by an archaic iconography, full ‐ page illustrations, a linear treatment of ornamental sheets and a common technical and artistic repertoire. In contrast with the Cilician manuscripts with their varied and brilliant colours, on fine parchment, with an ample use of gold, the Vaspu ‐ rakan school used two or three colours against a plain vellum background, and no gold. Apart from the Cilician and Vaspurakan schools there are the Crimean school (large colo ‐ nies of refugees from the fallen Cilicia settled in the Crimea), the Tatev school and several oth ‐ ers. A close study of these schools would no doubt lead to further subdivisions. Time and place also affected portraits of the Evangelists in Armenian Gospels. A whole range of types including an ancient scholar, an aristocrat, an ascetic ‐ looking monk and a village philosopher appear on the pages of Armenian Gospels during the thousand years of history. Another distinctive trait of Armenian manuscript is the colophon ( hishatakaran ) at the end of the book which gives the names of the scribe and illustrator, the owner of the manuscript or the person who commissioned it. As colophons also recorded the provenance or details of the making of the book, they make it possible to classify manuscripts by origin, to date them, and to discover new names of artists, etc. Besides, colophons recorded important events, and this makes them a valuable source of historical data. But the most interesting evidence of the colophons concerns the attitude to books, the great esteem in which they were held. Amidst all the troubles and miseries of life, in the time of wars, enemy raids and religious strife, for the Armenian people a book written in their mother tongue was then a symbol of fortitude, faith in their culture, and their national identity. What ‐ ever happened, it had to be preserved. It was the Armenians’ great concern for their cultural wealth that led to the survival of so many valuable manuscripts through the centuries — and what centuries — through wars, massacre and destruction.