Analysis of the Aesthetic Connections between Literary Return (Bazgasht-e Adabi) and Royal Figural Painting during Fath Ali Shah of Qajar (1785–1925 A.D.)

One of the most important characteristics of Iranian paintings is their connection and unity with Persian literature, which resulted in the formation of common language and similar subjects in these two art fields. However, since the Zands Dynasty, especially their late era, a certain divergence occurred between painting and poetry due to the weakness of literature and the fact that the painters were more influenced by the European art. While focusing on the benchmarks of the poems of the return era, and the Royal Court portrait paintings, this study strives to examine the common aesthetic connection between these two fields of art through performing historical, descriptive, analytical and comparative study, and achieve the response to this question that Which factors were effective in the formation and flourishing of the literature and painting during the reign of Fath Ali Shah Qajar and how and to what extent are their common aesthetic links? The painting and poetry of this era managed to achieve flourishing thanks to the supports granted by an art-lover king, i.e. Fath Ali Shah Qajar. Due to the policies of the Shah during his 37-year reign against the arts, a suitable basis was provided for the alignment of these two fields of art in a new and different manner (notwithstanding the occurred divergence) so that the painters act independently in choosing their subjects, and do not refer to poetry so often, while trying to take benefit from poetical descriptions and literature aesthetic criteria, and represent the same through a human-oriented vision.