Biography

It is a happy accident that the manuscripts of Toros Roslin have preserved colophons written by him. They permit to partially imagine the world in which Roslin created and give scanty information on his patrons and donors - catholicos Costandin I of Bardzerberd, king Hetum I, his wife Isabel, their children and prince Levon, in particular. In these colophons the artist appears as a chronicler, who preserved the interesting facts in the events of his time(1) . These records may judge the master's tastes and power of observation.
Scholars engaged in the study of Roslin's artistic legacy have passed by a very important detail in the colophons of the artist about himself: "Toros makanun Roslin". The word "makanun" means "surname" in Old Armenian, i.e. he wrote, "Toros surnamed Roslin". However, only Armenians of noble origin had a surname in the Middle Ages; therefore, Roslin as if himself indicated to the fact that he belonged to the nobility; and yet the surname of Roslin does not figure among the noble Armenian families. This means that the surname of Roslin should be looked for beyond Armenia.
We propose a new version explaining the appearance of the surname of Roslin in the Armenian milieu. In Scotland, not far away from Edinburgh, there is a village called Roslin, and in close vicinity of it, a fortress and a chapel of the same name, well known far outside the country. The owners of this territory, the family of the Sinclairs or Saint-Clairs, took part in the Crusades. In particular, Henry Sancto Claro or Sinclair, known as baron of Rosslyn/Roslin, fought with Godfrey de Bouillon during the campaign of 1096(2) .
If we assume that crusader Henry Sinclair married an Armenian, and the family was armenianized in the 11th -12th centuries, then possibly, the roots of the genealogy and surname of Toros Roslin should be sought for here. S. Der Nersessian's opinion that almost all famous crusaders, who came to the East, were married to Armenians counts in favour of this hypothesis as well(3) .
We attempt to find out the approximate dates of Toros Roslin's birth and death. To figure out the artist's date of birth, it is fundamentally important to establish how much time was needed for the professional training of a miniature-painter. Armenian manuscripts bear no information on this. On the other hand, it is quite well known that Armenian and Italian miniaturists created a good many of their manuscripts jointly. This cooperation indicates that the level of training of both was equally high and consequently, to achieve it, identical period of time in apprenticeship was needed. Cenino Cennini, the Italian painter of the end of the 14th century, conveys information on the terms of apprenticeship in his work.
Our research shows that Roslin was born between 1210-1216. He started his apprenticeship at the age of 13 or 14. It took him 18 years to study and travel abroad, and finally, some 7 or 8 years more to achieve a professional perfection, working as assistant in a master's workshop. If we subtract the sum total of these years from 1250 (the approximate date of the portrait of Prince Levon , or 1256 (the date of the Zeytun Gospel), we shall get the years 1210-1216, i.e. in 1250, Roslin was about 30-40, while in 1256, he was about 40-46 years old. These calculations might be confirmed by the data on the age, at which medieval artists gained public recognition, i.e. when their contemporaries first mentioned them.
Biographies of ancient Armenian artists do not contain such information; however, there are such data on Italian masters, which allow us to think that similar to the Italians, Roslin was at the age in between 30 and 40 when he created works of his own. At this age he could have headed artists younger than himself, enjoy the respect of the elders and even teachers still alive. At this age he could have already been the head of a workshop, guide and lead miniature painters in their work, pose artistic problems and solve them.
As the last Gospel of Prince Vasak (Washington, Freer Gallery of Art, no 32.18) that is attributed to Roslin, was made on the order of Prince Vasak after his return from Egypt (a bit later than 1268), then Toros Roslin was still alive in 1269-1270. All facts and observations give the right to assume that the great artist lived in the period between 1210 and 1270, which means that he lived for 54-60 years. Roslin's activity in creation coincides with the years when he was 46-50 or 40-54 years old. However, the most productive period for Italian and other artists contemporary to the Armenian master was usually the last decade in their lives. This also counts in favour of our viewpoint.
Roslin, according to his own colophon in the Gospel of 1260 had children, and this proves that he was a priest. These records likewise provide insight into the precision of the master's date of birth. Medieval miniaturists gave mention of their children after they had grown up and achieved something. Having become a person worthy of mention by his father in the Gospel of 1260, Roslin's son could have been 24-30 in the year his father was 44-50 years old; so then he should have been born in 1230-1236, when his father was at least 20. Once again these dates confirm the assumption that the master was born in 1210-1216. One should agree with S. Der Nersessian that after the death of catholicos Costandin I of Bardzerberd, or perhaps, with the decease of Toros Roslin or his departure, the scriptorium at Hromkla ceased to exist, and both the scribes and miniaturists of Hromkla were obliged to seek for orders in the scriptoria still functioning.
It is not inconceivable that Toros the Philosopher and Hohan, who copied the Gospel with an illustrative page, ascribed to Roslin's workshop, at Drazark in 1295, were members of the scriptoria at Hromkla. In the very colophon of this codex mention is given of the name of Toros, a deceased priest, whom we are inclined to identify with Toros Roslin.