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You can see the first specimens of national painting on the architectural monuments of Echmiadzin, antique Garni and other temples, including the ones from Urartu period. Walls and floors in cult structures were covered by amazing ornaments, bas-reliefs and reliefs a lot of which have survived. They represented various plants and animals, the scenes connected with Christian religion – The Day of Judgment and Nativity, nobility life, people's activities. Expressive paintings transformed walls of temples into a figurative story. In parallel with it icon painting started to develop.
A special place in church art was occupied by miniatures – bright colorful pictures of religious content illustrating handwritten books. The first examples appeared in the 6 th century, although the art reached its peak in the Middle Ages. The 17 th- 18 th centuries saw the birth of frescos and easel painting. In the 19 th century the leading were portrait, genre, historical and landscape painting. Ivan (Ovanes) Aivazovsky, the great seascape painter, whose art became a part of the world's culture, was of Russian-Armenian descent.
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