Women’s Position in Photos from the Qajar Era

Since the start of the Qajar period, many travellers have been able to provide rare information about women. The beauty of Iranian women is one of the things that caught the attention of European tourists. One can see the reflection of that beauty in abundance in the paintings of that period. However, the highlight is the striking difference between the surviving photographs of women from the Qajar period and the travel accounts and paintings from that period. What has been studied in this research is the examination of the authenticity of the appearance of women in the Qajar period based on the visual evidence of women in painting and photography and comparing them with the writings of travelogues. The collection of materials within this research is a library and is written historically and analytically. Based on this, the questions of this article are as follows: To what extent does the appearance of women in the paintings of the Qajar era match with other pictorial documents such as photography and travelers’ writings? And if there is a difference in the appearance of the women mentioned in the newspapers, what factors are responsible for this question? The findings of the investigations show that we see some differences between the remaining photos and the paintings from that period. In the Qajar period, painters have a tendency to idealism and non-simulation in the drawing of women’s faces. One can say that women in representations of this period, whether photographs or paintings are a tool to express the glory of power and royalty.