Lusine Sargsyan, Illustrated Story of Jesus Christ and John the Baptist according to the Gospel of Luke (Armenian Miniature Art of 14th century)

Lusine Sargsyan - Matenadaran, Scientific Research Institute of Ancient Manuscripts named after Mesrop Mashtots, Yerevan, Department of Armenian Art History and Theory, Yerevan State University, Yerevan
TOME LVI 2018
p. 43-67
Online publication date: 
02/05/2024
Keywords: 
Annunciation, Visitation, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, prophet Zechariah, the Presentation of Christ at the Temple, Anna and Simeon, Iconography, Theological Interpretation.
Abstract: 

This paper studies some fragments from the art of the Armenian miniaturist Avag C’ałkoł (14th century). I focus on the miniatures representing the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birth and the Naming of John the Baptist, the Census of Caesar Augustus, the Shepherds with grazing sheep and the Presentation of Christ at the Temple. These miniatures are lavishly illuminated in the Gospel of 1337-40 (Matenadaran, Ms. 212) and in the Bible of 1356-58 (Matenadaran, Ms. 6230)2.
The iconographic peculiarities of the miniatures representing the biblical story of the First and Second Chapters of the Gospel of Luke occur frequently in medieval Armenian art. My paper aims to analyze these artistic traditions. This paper also focuses on the theological study of the images which gives an opportunity to trace the origins (6-7th centuries) from which such an iconographic system could be developed and become separate during the upcoming centuries.