The XIV century is one of the important phases in the history of
medieval Armenian art, the interesting stage of true creative aspirations. A most
remarkable and original representative of this period is the painter Avag. Schools of
higher education and their adjacent studios which were organized in Eastern Armenia in the
XIII-XIV centuries, have left an ineffaceable imprint on the history of Armenian culture.
In such a school as the University of Gladzor, the painter Avag received his education,
having the renowned scientist Yesayi Nchetsi as a teacher. We know neither the place nor
the date of his birth. Avag belonged to the category of wandering artists so widely spread
in the late Middle Ages. While travelling, these artists adopted the best achievements of
various arts which were afterwards creatively elaborated due to their undeniably great
individuality. Gladzor, Sultanya, Maragha, Paitakaran, and finally Cilicia are the names
of places where Avag found temporary refuge and worked. In the fifties of the XIV c. he
visited Cilicia, when its fame had already begun to decline, yet, the spirit of artistic
life still lingered on in the great cities. In Cilicia the painter had ample opportunity
to become acquainted with Byzantine and Western manuscripts; he came into contact with the
upper class having European orientation, being charmed by their luxurious and magnificent
attire, and also observing a life and customs so unusual for him. As Avag was truly an
artist of great talent and individuality, his creations never lost their national
features. Seven manuscripts of Avag's artistic heritage have survived. The miniatures of
these manuscripts reveal an art which is rich in traditional forms, in expressions of a
modern style and in original researches. In Avag's paintings the feeling of classical art
is revealed either in single characters or in the whole composition and in the making of
the page; it is also felt in the role colour plays in the entire complex. But in Armenian
miniature painting of the XIVc. no artist surpassed Avag's mastership in representing the
human figure from different points, in various positions and places. This is the most
important novelty brought into the art of Armenian illumination by this talented artist
who continued and completed the main trends of Roslin's art. In Avag's work we see the
almost definite qualities of the new progressive style characteristic of the XIV c. Avag
is among these exceptional miniaturists in whose creations the new style, adopted by
Armenian art as a whole, is wonderfully expressed. In his innovations he is bold and
unyielding. Both the content and stylistic bases of his art are so dynamic that analogies
are spontaneously drawn with Paleologue Art, one of the most widely spread trends of that
time. This is the reason why Avag's artistic heritage acquires great importance in
Armenian miniature painting. On the whole, it is a phenomenon proving the harmony between
the changes taking place in the XIV c. Armenian culture and the artistic achievements of
the Christian world.