Detail of a Leaf with Four Standing Evangelists in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2010

Manuscript Leaf from a Gospel Book, 1290–1330
Armenian; Written in Armenian and painted possibly in the Lake Van region, Vaspurakan (now eastern Turkey)
Ink and tempera on parchment
8 7/8 x 13 1/8 in. (22.5 x 33.3 cm)
Gift of Dr. J. C. Burnett, 1957 (57.185.3)

In Armenia, east of the Byzantine empire, Christianity had been accepted as the state religion by 314. The figures on both sides of this page are identified in Armenian, for which a written language was developed about 400 A.D. to make possible the translation of Christian texts. Here (verso), the Four Evangelists—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—stand in a row. Represented on the other side (recto) is the Discovery of Christ's Empty Tomb, based on the Gospel of John (20:4–14).

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/57.185.3