Investigating the Commonalities and Variances Between the Themes Applied in the Safavid and Ottoman Paintings

The art of painting is the manifestation of national and religious ideas. Muslim artists in diverse lands have reflected many common moral and religious themes; in the interim, due to cultural, religious ties and wars between nations that led to the conquest of lands, the paintings and illustrations of the Safavid and Ottoman illustrated manuscripts of the fifteenth to seventeenth /ninth to eleventh centuries highly influenced each other and many common concepts including religious, literary, mystical and historical themes are found in their illustrated versions. Therefore, considering the characteristics of the paintings of the Safavid and Ottoman periods, the hypothesis of this research is that despite the relationship between cultures and the common political and social changes of both empires, significant effects are considered. The present research is a qualitative content analysis and the method of data collection is accomplished via the library method.   The findings of this research display that the paintings of the Safavid and Ottoman empires are similar in a number of features, however they are diverse in terms of method, style and context. In addition, the prominent visual features in the paintings of each era were influenced by the culture and religion of the society of that time and reflect the cultural and religious situation of that period despite their variances.

1. A study on the characteristics of the paintings in the Safavid and Ottoman periods. 2. An analysis of the paintings with similar themes in Safavid and Ottoman paintings.

Research questions: 

1. What themes and stories have been used in Safavid and Ottoman paintings? 2. How are common themes and stories depicted in Safavid and Ottoman paintings?