Toros Roslin - Legacy

Legacy

Sirarpie Der-Nersessian devoted the longest chapter in her posthumously published magnum opus Miniature Painting in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia to Toros Roslin whose work she had researched for years. In the chapter she underlines: "Roslin's ability to convey deep emotion without undue emphasis," and in describing one of Roslin's scenes she extols: "The compositional design, the delicate modeling of the individual figures, and the subtle color harmonies show Roslin’s work at its best, equaling in artistic quality some of the finest Byzantine miniatures."

Armenian-American abstract expressionist painter Arshile Gorky was a great admirer of Roslin and in one his letters to his sister in 1944 he wrote: "Toros Roslin is the Renaissance. What electricity the man contains. For me, he is the greatest artist the world produced before the modern age and his use of dimension is exceeded solely by his cubism. Masterful dimensionality, unsurpassed. I bow before our Toros."

A 3.4 meter high statue of Toros Roslin made of basalt was erected in 1967 in front of the entrance of Matenadaran. The statue was designed by Mark Grigoryan and sculpted by Arsham Shahinyan. A fine arts academy named after Toros Roslin was founded in 1981 by the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Association in Beirut, Lebanon.