Toros 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.[15] 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.[16] The Gospel of 1262 (MS No. 2660) was commissioned by Prince Levon, during the reign of King Het’um (I, 1226-1270),[17]copied at Sis by the scribe Avetis, illustrated by Roslin at Hromkla and bound by Arakel Hnazandents.[18] 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.[19] 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.[19]

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.[16] 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.[20] The Zeytun Gospels of 1256 (MS. 10450), copied for Catholicos Constantine I {See link[21]}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.[22] 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."[23]

The principal innovation of Roslin in regards to ornaments within canon tables is the addition of bust portraits.[24] 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.[25] 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 6th-century Syriac Rabbula Gospels, their relationship to the gospels was not made explicit through the quotation of their messianic prophecies.[26] 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.[24] 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.[27]

The Portrait of Prince Levon, Yerevan, Matenadaran, No. 8321

Several contemporary manuscripts from the 13th century, devoid of colophons have sometimes been attributed to Roslin.[7] 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 1250s.[28] 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.[29] 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.[30] 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.[31]