An Intertextual Study of Nizami’s Poetry and Behzad’s Painting in “Chinese and Roman Painters’ Debate” Tale

Zohreh Hosseinabadi

doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20170506.13

Abstract

One of the brightest schools of painting was Herat School from whose greatest artist, Behzad, beautiful paintings have remained. Some of these paintings are associated with poetry and literature and reflect verbal narratives. Using Gérard Genette intertextuality approach, the present study investigates one of the paintings which exists in both verbal and pictorial forms: the verbal form is derived from Nizami’s Sharaf-nama which was painted by Behzad. The purpose was to investigate the meaning of a text in its connection with other texts; in other words, this study tried to find the relationship between words and image, and uncover the underlying theme that ties them together.

Highlights

There has always been such an everlasting tie between literatures and painting that artists turned to literature to convey literary and cultural concepts to common people
The painting under study here is "Roman and Chinese painters’ debate" tale depicted by the great artist of Herat school, Kamaleddin Behzad
It can be said that the Herat School great artist, Behzad, deliberately choses Nizami’s poem from which he selects a single verse and paints it

Summary

Introduction

There has always been such an everlasting tie between literatures and painting that artists turned to literature to convey literary and cultural concepts to common people Through their bond, poetry and painting expressed honorable goals and created new meanings which narrated the purposes of poets and painters [1]. Poetry and painting expressed honorable goals and created new meanings which narrated the purposes of poets and painters [1] This type of close tie is evident in great and immanent masterpieces such as Jami’s Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones), Divan-e-Hafez, Saadi's Bustan (The Orchard) and Gulistan (The Rose Garden) [2]. There have been numerous studies on images and debates in Persian poetry and the depth of their thinking have always fascinated the researchers, there is no study about ‘Roman and Chinese painters’ debate’ tale and its painting as the works of two great artists, and justifies the need for the present study

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion