Armenian Art

Sirarpie Der Nersessian (1896-1989) was an Armenian art historian. Born in Istanbul, she fled in 1915 to escape the persecutions that had erupted against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. She lived for a time in Switzerland, then moved to Paris in 1919, where she obtained a graduate degree at the Sorbonne. By the mid-20th century, she was living in Washington D.C., working as a scholar at Dumbarton Oaks. In 1963, she published a book on the Freer Gallery of Art’s Armenian Gospel manuscript folios. In Armenian Art, published in 1977, Der Nersessian focused on art produced after the establishment of Christianity as a state religion in the 4th century. In the book, Der Nesessian documented medieval architecture, tile mosaics, and metalwork, and focused particular attention on the beautiful illuminated manuscripts created in the cross-cultural melting pot of Armenia. This volume, a first edition copy with the original publisher’s black cloth and gilt lettering, represents an important work of scholarship by a pioneer in Armenian art history.