Herat School and The Evolution of Painting In Afghanistan

Abstract

Herat was one of the important centers of various culture and art during the reign of Timurids in Afghanistan. The Timurid rulers such as Shahrokh Mirza, Gawharshad Begum, Sultan Hussain Bayqara and Amir Ali Shirnvaei the respected Artists that were in a good position at that time, and this led to the formation of the Herat School of Art in Herat, which had no precedent until the fourteen century. Herat school paintings have unique features. Paying attention to the color and content of the painting was one of the priorities of the artists of that time, and the manuscript of Golestan Saadi, written for Baysanghar Mirza that it having eight original and beautiful picture assemblies, all of that explain the advantages and merits of the Herat school; for example The Herat school experienced the greatest change during the reign of Sultan Hussein Bayqara, and with the advent of Kamaluddin Behzad, the greatest change in the Afghan art and painting tradition that took place during this period. Behzad’s paintings are different from the artists of that period in terms of character and sincerely characterize the Herat school, which in this article is more focused on the subject. Key words: Transformation of Painting, Miniature, Timurids of Herat and Kamaluddin Behzad.