Saturday 21 July 2012

Sketches from the Yerevan National Gallery

When I visited the Yerevan National Gallery in 2011 I took the opportunity to sketch what I saw, as photography is not allowed.

In the Roman era section were fragments of plaques, I sketched the fragments and on return to London was able to reconstruct (in red) what it would have stated, this dated to 116 AD, commemorating the conquest of Armenia by the emperor Trajan. Found in Artashata, probably part of a victory monument.
One of five terracotta idols, dated to around 200 AD, of the goddess Anahit. It seems that by the 3rd century AD she was no longer being depicted in the classical style, but had taken on, for lack of a better description, the look of the Madonna. Curiously, this was BEFORE Armenia became a Christian kingdom.
Sketch of around eight terracotta idols of the god Mher (Mithra).