One text and two representations; Examining the relation of the Javānmardi tarīqat (Chivalric Order) with Behzād's painting style and Sa di's poetry

One of the most important questions in Persian painting is how to select a text for painting. The general assumption is that painters have had little liberty in choosing such a text, but the present study demonstrates that this question is subject to a specific logic that is somehow related to the world view of a painter or a group of painters.
By employing a sociological approach, this comparative structural analysis has particularly compared several important works in the style of Kamāl al-Din Behzād with a few of Sa’di’s verses, finding the reason for shared structural elements reflected in the world views of the works of the two, in a single same sociological context called Fotovvatiya or Ā’in-e Javānmardi. One can argue that, apropos painting, the world views of some circles of Fotovvatiya followers are reflected in Behzād’s painting style; and in the domain of poetry, the world views are reflected in Sa’di’s works. Thus, the painters in Behzād’s style show great interest in Sa’di’s poetry; they have even adhered to Ā’in-e Javānmardi or have, at least, been immensely under its influence. Some of their paintings can be counted as illustrated Fotovvat-nāmeh (Book of chivalry).