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U.S. professor calls for better study of iconography in Armenia
June 15, 2012 - 12:15 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Prof. Thomas F. Mathews, emeritus professor at New
York University's Institute of Fine Arts, recently gave a talk on the
role of Armenian architecture in the international arena, at Columbia
University, The Armenian Mirror-Spectator reports.
The event was sponsored by the Armenian Center at Columbia University
and co-sponsored by the National Association for Armenian Studies and
Research (NAASR) and Columbia's Art History Department.
Mathews, along with Dr. Helen Evans of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
had been the curator of the 1994 exhibition, `Treasures in Heaven:
Armenian Illuminated Manuscripts,' featuring Armenian illuminated
manuscripts at the Morgan Library and Museum, with curatorial
assistant Dr. Sylvie Merian.
In Armenian literature, there are voluminous sources of Armenia's
conversion to Christianity. However, the most neglected treatise is
the Treatise on Images by Vertanes of Kertogh, which has been
translated by Dr. Sirarpie Der Nersessian. An article on this treatise
was published a few years ago by Mathews in the Revue des Etudes
Armenienne, Vol 31, 2008-2009. `Vertanes is the Pliny of Armenia,'
stated Mathews. His seventh-century Intellectual Dialogue on the
Christian Use of Icons, written in Dvin, is the earliest defense of
icons, and Vertanes mentions the wood materials and even the pigments
used with Persian names. These include icons of Christ, Peter and
Paul, the Mother of God and Saints Gregory and Hripsime.
Mathews said that the next important intellectual in this field was
John of Damascus who was secretary to the patriarch of Jerusalem in
the early eighth century. `The Byzantine rulers forbade the use of
icons because the people were worshipping the icons almost as idols
and not as symbols of Christianity or the Christian saints,' he
explained. `This was the cause of a huge conflict between the Greeks
and Armenians, both doctrinally and ecclesiastically,' he said. `The
icon phenomenon is larger than Byzantium.'
There is no evidence of icons in Armenia before the Arabs sacked Dvin
in 640 AD, because Armenian icons were painted on wood panels, which
are perishable, he said. In Egypt, the wood panels in St. Catherine's
Monastery in Sinai survived because of the dry climate and because the
monks protected them.
There were stone icons in Armenia, which due to their weight did not
travel and their iconography was inspired by the wood icons
transported to Armenia. The stone relief in the Odzun church, which is
made of different stone than the rest of the church, dates before the
eighth century, the scholar said. `This relief was widely used in the
Byzantine world.' There is a carved relief on a four-sided stone stele
at Harichavank where Mother Mary is wearing a necklace, and which has
been compared with the necklace on the Maria Regina icon in Rome,
561-579. There is also archeological evidence of stone reliefs at
Louvre, France, which were copies of Christian icons, and inspired by
the wood icons in Armenia. `Obviously all this iconography circulated
because they were painted on wooden panels.'
The Dvin Crucifixion, which is three feet high with a double-armed
cross, reveals the body of Christ gone, but His face enshrined in a
halo of glory. There are also horsemen on the side. This cross with
the human face `is the most complete venerating image,' Mathews said,
adding that the crucifixion `is the first and most formidable problem
of theology. And this `Christ in Glory' iconography is found from
Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Anatolia, Armenia and Constantinople to
Rome.'
Armenia is part of this larger world, which centers on this concept of
Christ on the cross. Mathews believes that the iconography for the
Dvin relief was based on a second-century wooden triptych from Egypt.
This would explain how the iconography of the horses got to Dvin: on a
wooden icon, the crucifix icon is on a cross with a pair of horsemen.
For Armenia, `there aren't ancient treatises. There is art and
sculpture. However, iconography in Armenia still has to be
investigated,' he said in conclusion.
June 15, 2012 - 12:15 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Prof. Thomas F. Mathews, emeritus professor at New
York University's Institute of Fine Arts, recently gave a talk on the
role of Armenian architecture in the international arena, at Columbia
University, The Armenian Mirror-Spectator reports.
The event was sponsored by the Armenian Center at Columbia University
and co-sponsored by the National Association for Armenian Studies and
Research (NAASR) and Columbia's Art History Department.
Mathews, along with Dr. Helen Evans of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
had been the curator of the 1994 exhibition, `Treasures in Heaven:
Armenian Illuminated Manuscripts,' featuring Armenian illuminated
manuscripts at the Morgan Library and Museum, with curatorial
assistant Dr. Sylvie Merian.
In Armenian literature, there are voluminous sources of Armenia's
conversion to Christianity. However, the most neglected treatise is
the Treatise on Images by Vertanes of Kertogh, which has been
translated by Dr. Sirarpie Der Nersessian. An article on this treatise
was published a few years ago by Mathews in the Revue des Etudes
Armenienne, Vol 31, 2008-2009. `Vertanes is the Pliny of Armenia,'
stated Mathews. His seventh-century Intellectual Dialogue on the
Christian Use of Icons, written in Dvin, is the earliest defense of
icons, and Vertanes mentions the wood materials and even the pigments
used with Persian names. These include icons of Christ, Peter and
Paul, the Mother of God and Saints Gregory and Hripsime.
Mathews said that the next important intellectual in this field was
John of Damascus who was secretary to the patriarch of Jerusalem in
the early eighth century. `The Byzantine rulers forbade the use of
icons because the people were worshipping the icons almost as idols
and not as symbols of Christianity or the Christian saints,' he
explained. `This was the cause of a huge conflict between the Greeks
and Armenians, both doctrinally and ecclesiastically,' he said. `The
icon phenomenon is larger than Byzantium.'
There is no evidence of icons in Armenia before the Arabs sacked Dvin
in 640 AD, because Armenian icons were painted on wood panels, which
are perishable, he said. In Egypt, the wood panels in St. Catherine's
Monastery in Sinai survived because of the dry climate and because the
monks protected them.
There were stone icons in Armenia, which due to their weight did not
travel and their iconography was inspired by the wood icons
transported to Armenia. The stone relief in the Odzun church, which is
made of different stone than the rest of the church, dates before the
eighth century, the scholar said. `This relief was widely used in the
Byzantine world.' There is a carved relief on a four-sided stone stele
at Harichavank where Mother Mary is wearing a necklace, and which has
been compared with the necklace on the Maria Regina icon in Rome,
561-579. There is also archeological evidence of stone reliefs at
Louvre, France, which were copies of Christian icons, and inspired by
the wood icons in Armenia. `Obviously all this iconography circulated
because they were painted on wooden panels.'
The Dvin Crucifixion, which is three feet high with a double-armed
cross, reveals the body of Christ gone, but His face enshrined in a
halo of glory. There are also horsemen on the side. This cross with
the human face `is the most complete venerating image,' Mathews said,
adding that the crucifixion `is the first and most formidable problem
of theology. And this `Christ in Glory' iconography is found from
Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Anatolia, Armenia and Constantinople to
Rome.'
Armenia is part of this larger world, which centers on this concept of
Christ on the cross. Mathews believes that the iconography for the
Dvin relief was based on a second-century wooden triptych from Egypt.
This would explain how the iconography of the horses got to Dvin: on a
wooden icon, the crucifix icon is on a cross with a pair of horsemen.
For Armenia, `there aren't ancient treatises. There is art and
sculpture. However, iconography in Armenia still has to be
investigated,' he said in conclusion.