Artistic Fusion in Isfahan: The Evolution of Armenian Murals in Vank Cathedral
Heavy taxes of the Ottoman government, religious conflicts, and successive wars between the Safavids and the Ottomans led to the first wave of Armenian migration in 1586 to Isfahan, although, some Armenian merchants were already living there. A significant factor in the second wave of Armenian immigration to Isfahan, in 1604, was Shah ‘Abbas I’s campaign in 1603, by which he violated the terms of the Treaty of Constantinople (1590) and invaded Ottoman territory. Following this movement, Shah ‘Abbas destroyed the city of Old Julfa to dispel any notion among the deportees that their migration might only be temporary.
Following their departure from Old Julfa in 1604, Armenians resided on the southern bank of the Zayandeh Rud that flowed through the heart of the city of Isfahan. Among them were hundreds of clerics, including bishops, monks, and priests who abandoned their homes and came to Isfahan. Although they were enough to meet the Armenian religious needs, the construction of new churches was required for the observance of the liturgy. As a result, seventeenth-century Isfahan saw a campaign of church building that was mostly funded by Armenian merchants (khojas). Vank Cathedral, with its religious community, manuscript copyists and illuminators, printing press and theological school, was the most significant of these ecclesiastical institutions. In decorating the interior walls of the church, Khoja Avetik played an important role by covering the expenses. His name as the sponsor of the paintings is preserved in the inscription on the north wall that also announces the date of his death on 5 February, 1669.
The interior of the church is adorned with gilt floral stucco, tile friezes, and wall-paintings depicting events from the Old and the New Testaments (Figure 1). These are arranged in horizontal registers, framed by stucco and painted decoration on the walls of the main body of the Cathedral, and round the gallery inside the drum beneath the dome. Generally, the upper row and the spandrels on either side of the windows contain Old Testament subjects, juxtaposed with New Testament subjects below. In a lower register is a wide band of gilded stucco work painted with vegetal motifs containing medallions depicting various parables relating to the sacraments, and a band of murals with further scenes from the life of Christ and the life and martyrdom of St Gregory the Illuminator.
Figure 1. Interior of Vank Cathedral, 1655-1664, Isfahan. Photograph by Ahmad Yengimolki, March 2022.
Armenian painting in Isfahan was inspired by different artistic trends during the Safavid period and was accompanied by changes in the style of Armenian painting following the emigration. Vank Cathedral, in its design, construction and interior decoration, exhibits both Safavid and Armenian architectural and artistic features. However, as far as the style of the murals is concerned, there seem to be significant differences when compared with surviving Armenian murals and manuscript paintings before their migration to Isfahan. One of the most important of these is the tendency to paint realistically using perspectival depth, shadowing, and the use of landscapes and buildings in the background (Figure 2).
“The interior of the church is adorned with gilt floral stucco, tile friezes, and wall-paintings depicting events from the Old and the New Testaments.”
Figure 2. Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, southern wall of western cross, Vank Cathedral. Photograph by Ahmad Yengimolki, March 2022.
This, however, is based on evidence from only a small number of much earlier survivals that are preserved, often in a largely fragmentary state in the earlier churches. Of these, the paintings in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross at Aght’amar (915-921) and the Church of Tigran Honents offer the most extensive and the best-preserved examples. Unsurprisingly, given the many centuries between the production of these murals and those in Julfa, it is clear that Armenian wall-painting had undergone major stylistic changes by the time Vank Cathedral was decorated. Whether the style of painting characteristic of the tenth-century murals remained unchanged until the migration of the Armenians to Julfa and then subsequently underwent a radical change is less clear, as there is a dearth of examples of pre-migration Armenian paintings that survive between the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries.
Illuminated Armenian manuscripts, by comparison, have been preserved in great numbers and almost 1,000 of them are kept in the Armenian churches in New Julfa. These show not only a clear process of stylistic changes, but also allow for further investigation into the nature of the New Julfa murals by identifying their distinguishing elements. This also helps to track and understand the connection between the Armenian communities in Isfahan, Constantinople and Aleppo. Those who had migrated to Iran came from the banks of the Aras River, where artists from Siwnik, the Lake Van region, and Khizan practised.[1] Their paintings featured vivid colour contrasts, dynamic compositions, and elongated figures (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Annunciation, illuminator unknown, MS W.540, fol. 7v, 1475, the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. Licensed for use under Creative Commons.
Armenians who migrated to Constantinople from Cilicia worked in close contact with Western and Byzantine Churches. As a result, they tended to favour a pastel palette and a less stylized figural style with a tendency towards realism.[2] The other important centre for Armenian artists was Aleppo, where the Cilician and Constantinopolitan styles played a significant role in their manuscript paintings. Communication between these centres and exchanges of art and artists was not uncommon. Further reflecting the links between the centres was a conscious revival of the Cilician style of miniature painting that evolved from the work of Toros Roslin during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a style that was more naturalistic than the traditional style associated with Greater Armenia (Figure 4). This new trend is certainly visible in the Vank Cathedral murals, both stylistically and iconographically (Figure 5).
From a stylistic point of view, the wall-paintings share with the Cilician painting tradition their palette, highlighting and modelling, facial expressions, and the inclusion of landscape settings. Iconographically, it was here that Roslin first used architecture as a background to give depth and three-dimensional quality to his works, a feature that became prominent in Armenian paintings in the following decades. In general, the Cilician tradition of painting established in the thirteenth century continued throughout the following century and was maintained in the practices of later Armenian painters in Constantinople, Crimea, Aleppo, and ultimately New Julfa, under cultural, political and economic influences that retained deep and intricate connections with these centres into the seventeenth century.
Figure 4. Gospel Book, MS M.623 fol. 6r, 1658-1659, Microform Collection (MICROPR), Morgan Library & Corsair online Catalogue, Princeton.
Figure 5. The Adoration of the Magi, southern wall of eastern cross, Vank Cathedral. Photograph by Ahmad Yengimolki, March 2022.
The other important factor influencing the Vank murals was the appearance of printed Bibles in New Julfa, imported from the region that is now Italy, and from Amsterdam, as a result of Armenian mercantile activities. There are several known sources of inspiration for the wall-paintings of the cathedral, including Nadal’s Bible (1594), Thesaurus Sacrarum (1579-1585) and Theatrum Biblicum (1643), The Life, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ (1598-1618), and a set of plates that Yovhannes Julayec’ brought to Isfahan from Europe in 1646. The subject matter of these prints shows the selective taste of the Armenian artists, who sought the compositions that best suited their requirements in the overall programme of paintings decorating the Cathedral (Figures 6-7).
“The artists of Vank Cathedral drew on images made available through a complex network of cultural, economic, ecclesiastical and diplomatic connections to create their works, adapting each model to suit their specific needs.”
Figure 6. Christ Washing the Feet of Peter, western wall, Vank. Photograph by Ahmad Yengimolki, March 2022.
Figure 7. Christ Washing the Disciples’ Feet, Adriaen Collaert, 1598 – 1618, RP-P-1885-A-9657, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
In the seventeenth century, the traditional style of Safavid painting also saw the introduction of a European painting style, termed farangi-saz (Figure 8), which is another important factor to take into consideration in studying the Vank murals (Figure 9). They were produced at a time when the established tradition was giving way to something new and innovative. This style coexisted with Safavid traditional painting in buildings like Chihil Sutun and Vank Cathedral, which was an indication of the collaboration of groups of artists and craftsmen. With the changes in the perspective of other Safavid artists portraying literary narratives and the world around them, the attitude of Armenian-Isfahani artists was also evolving. This change in attitude was one of the factors influencing the Europeanization of the wall-paintings inside Vank Cathedral and Bethlehem Church, and it was the farangi-saz that manifested itself differently in these churches. During the transition from traditional to farangi-saz styles there was a constructive dialogue between painting traditions in Isfahan, and each played a key role in that transition. Each without the other would not have enabled the formation of the new ‘hybrid’ art that emerged.
Figure 8. The Annunciation, Sadeqi Beyg, c. 1590, 1999.289, Harvard Art Museums, Boston.
Figure 9. The Annunciation, East wall, Vank Cathedral. Photograph by Ahmad Yengimolki, March 2022.
All these features highlight the fact that seventeenth-century Isfahan provided a milieu for artists and craftsmen to collaborate on various large-scale projects across the city for a wide range of patrons (Figure 10). The artists of Vank Cathedral drew on images made available through a complex network of cultural, economic, ecclesiastical and diplomatic connections to create their works, adapting each model to suit their specific needs. This resulted in a style that fused the wide range of different artistic traditions within which they worked and the deliberate imitation of older works (from Cilicia and Greater Armenia) was brought together with these innovations in exciting new ways.
Figure 10. Man in European attire with dog, veranda of north façade, west side, Chihil Sutun. Photograph by Ahmad Yengimolki, March 2022.
Citation
Ahmad Yengimolki, “Artistic Fusion in Isfahan: The Evolution of Armenian Murals in Vank Cathedral Ahmad Yengimolki,” PLATFORM, March 4, 2024.
Notes
[1] The ‘Khizan school’, the second branch of the Van school, comprised manuscripts copied in Khizan (Hizan), south of Lake Van, and in the canton of Mok’ (Mukus). The most important manuscripts of this school the MS Or.82 and MS Or.5737 housed in the British Library. Nersessian, Vrej Nersessian, Armenian Illuminated Gospel Books (London: British Library, 1987), 32.
[2] Helen C. Evans and Sylvie M. Merian, “The Final Centuries Armenian Manuscripts of the Diaspora,” in Treasure in Heaven: Armenian Illuminated Manuscripts, ed. by Thomas F. Mathews and Roger S. Wieck (New York: Princeton University Press, 1994): 106.
