#toros roslin

[geschwartz]

[kutxx]

3.

Toros Roslin (Cilician school of miniatures)

King Levon and Queen Keran 

1262, miniature, Gospel of Queen Keran

[kutxx]

1.

Toros Roslin (Cilician school of miniatures)

Canon tables

1256 - 1268, miniature

[armenianhighland]

Թորոս Ռոսլին Toros Roslin

1210–1270 Toros Roslin was the most prominent Armenian Manuscript Illuminator in the High Middle Ages. 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. He also revived the genre of royal portraits, the first Cilician royal portraits having been found in his manuscripts. His style is characterized by a delicacy of color, classical treatment of figures and their garments, an elegance of line, and an innovative iconography.

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.

Little is known about the personal life of Toros Roslin. It is known that he worked as a manuscript illuminator in at the scriptorium of Rumkale fortress in the Armenian Kingdom Of Cilicia. In some manuscripts Roslin is described as chronicler, who preserved facts and events of his time. 

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. By the time of the Gospel of 1265, Roslin already had his own apprentices.

[jeannepompadour]

Portrait of King Levon and Queen Keran of Armenia, from a contemporary Gospel, by Toros Roslin, 1262

[harpy]

Canon Tables from the Zeyt'un Gospels T'oros Roslin, Illuminator; Scribe, active: 1256 - 1268 Armenian, Hromklay, 1256 Tempera colors, gold paint, and ink on parchment

The Zeyt'un Gospels, made in the scriptorium at Hromklay for Katholikos Constantine I in 1256, are the earliest signed work of T'oros Roslin, the most accomplished illuminator and scribe in Armenia in the 1200s. These canon tables were separated from the manuscript at some point in the past and eventually acquired by the Getty Museum, while the rest of the manuscript is in a public collection in Armenia. Originally designed by Eusebius of Caesarea in the 300s, canon tables provide a concordance of related passages that describe the same events in more than one of the four Gospels. By the early Middle Ages, the columns of numbers were usually assembled within painted architectural structures. Though Roslin used this traditional format in all of his pages, he endlessly varied the ornamental designs and naturalistic elements, imbuing each page with individuality and vitality. Armenia established its own independent church in the 300s, distinct from both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. In medieval Armenia, religious books such as this one were believed to serve as heavenly intercessors for those involved with the books' creation, patronage, or restoration; Gospel books are among the most sumptuous of Armenian manuscripts.

A few manuscripts from the Zeytun Gospels at The J. Paul Getty Museum. View more.