character centrality in the story and the painting of abraham>s trial by fire

the correspondence between the elements of a story and its illustration has been eminent in the history of persian painting, achieved by the painter in both explicit and implicit manners. in fact, the painter painted the harmonious illustration by utilizing the essence and dominant element of the story. to do so, the painter confined himself to the most influential scenes of the story to be depicted in the two-dimensional space of the painting. among such illustrations, one may refer to abraham>s trial by fire, a quranic story, where the element of character, based on the theme of the story, stands prior to the other elements and is the central focus of the painting, accordingly. the present project aims to provide an analytical and descriptive study of the correspondence between the painting of abraham>s trial by fire in antology of iskandar sultan ('0th century a.d.) with the story. first, it deals with a brief review of the story based on the primary sources, and later turns to the element of character in the work. later, through a visual analysis, it is indicated that the painter has developed the basic visual structure based on the dominant element of the story (i.e. the character of abraham). the results deduced from both the story and the illustrated form indicate that the theme of the story and accordingly the visual space of the painting are based on personage and character centrality. what signifies character as the basic element of the painting and its implied and explicit correspondence with the story are as follows: the two-page composition of the painting indicates abraham>s cessation of whoever but god, and quran>s assertion that he is not polytheist; besides, abraham is the only character of the painting facing the sky and the creator with his back to the creature. the true personality of abraham is embedded in his sitting position, praying to almighty god. abraham>s lonesomeness in the painting and the circular shapes of the firewood and the flames of the fire surrounding him, as an abstract image of earth and symbolic representative of the crowd of the day allude abraham>s status as a «unified nation>. the division of the visual space of the painting with the centrality of abraham>s figure. abraham resembling the rose garden, implied in the selection of the same color for both the garden and abraham>s clothe. i. in all the above mentioned issues, the character of abraham is standing in conflict with nimrod and his accompanies which is another evidence for the centrality of character in the work. in other words, both the story and the painting are depictions of abraham (the protagonist) in contrast with nimrod (the antagonist).