Gospels of Georg Alexief

This manuscript was created in the seventeenth century, perhaps in Constantinople, based on the style of its illumination. The Gospel cycle that precedes the text contains slightly more miniatures than is traditional; especially notable are the tworepresenting the feeding of the five thousand and the cleansing of the Templewhich come out of sequence at the end of the cycle. The miniatures in this manuscript, like many at this time, reflect the mingling of traditional Cilician and Western influences. Though the manuscript does not include a colophon, the signature of the painter, Hohannes, is visible on the bottom of the canon tables on fols. 29v-30r. This manuscript appears to have been well traveled: at some point, very small inscriptions in Greek were added to most of the miniatures; in 1883, it belonged to Georg Alexief of Moscow, according to a note in Russian on fol. 1r.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Illuminated by the painter Hohannes (Vardapet), Constantinople [Istanbul], 17th century [1]. Sergei Mikhailovich Bol’shakov, Moscow, by 1883, [mode of acquisition unknown]; Georg Alexeef, Moscow, 1883, by purchase [2]. Henry Walters, Baltimore, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

[1] The location of this manuscript is unknown between the 17th century and 1883, and it may have been removed from Armenian territory at some point during the 19th-century Armenian Massacres.

[2] The transcription and translation of the entry was made by Lana Sloutsky.