The Depiction of European Women in Late Safavid Paintings
Résumé
This talk presents a group of 17th-century Persian paintings made in the farangi-sazi or Occidentalist style. It focuses in particular on depictions of females whose iconography is of European origins. Inspired by the print medium, some of these compositions recall Persian depictions of Shirin bathing, while others depict biblical saints such as the Virgin Mary. Taken as a collective, these paintings craft a visual form of Occidental exoticism and also provide insights into Iranian perceptions of European subjects and themes during the early modern period.