Comparative Aesthetics of the Manly Face in the Parties of the Prophet Joseph and Zuleika from Safavid Era to the Contemporary Era

Abstract

One of the noteworthy stories for the Iranian writers and painters is the story of Joseph and Zuleika. This story has elegantly been described many times in the poetry of Iranian famous poets and many painters have sought to illustrate this story. One of the themes of this story which has been considered in the present research is the party of Joseph and Zuleika in confronting with Egyptian women. Because the subject matter of this party has been Joseph’s beauty and it has been confirmed by a large number of people. Therefore, the painters have tried to picture the most beautiful human being by using all visual techniques. This research studies the aesthetics of the Joseph’s figure from Safavid School to the art of the contemporary era. With this assumption that in the Iranian painting, there has been a certain principle for painting the body and face of the most beautiful people; the present paper with the aim of finding the principles of men’s body and facial aesthetic has done the comparative study by concentration on the painting and designing of the body and face of Joseph in the figures. Some questions have been presented in this regard including whether it is possible to find an aesthetic approach common to all Iranian painting schools to show the most beautiful manly face and body? Whether exemplary beauty of Joseph is expressible by an indicator? What relation has the exemplary of Joseph had with the schools of Safavid art and the following schools? The method of this research is comparative and content analysis. The paper refers to the written and illustrated sources. The statistical society, including six ceremonies of painting and drawing, has been analyzed from Safavid school till the contemporary art; also, painter artists of this circle have been introduced. Matching the theoretical findings with the men’s most beautiful appearance manifested in the statue of majesty Joseph causes the acquisition of the embodied beauty symbols in the Iranian painting. In any of the circles, visual aesthetic dimensions and the manner of painting and drawing of the face of majesty Joseph as the beauty symbol for the men is considered. In addition to finding common features in different schools, the diversity of their perspectives is shown in different eras of Iranian painting by displaying the most beautiful symbols of the manly face.