A study on the effects of imported engravings on the structure of Farangi-sazi in Safavid’s era based on the views of Ernst Gombrich and Kendall Walton

Persian painting has been influenced by European art since the Safavid era, resulting in a painting style that became known as Farangi-sazi. Although some of the engravings used in the Farangi-Sazi have been identified in recent years, it seems that research has neglected visual distortion caused due to transferring images and printmaking process up to now. Most sources and studies on Farangi-Sazi have focused on Western art and cultural influence and to lesser extent on European painters at Safavid court. This article, adopting theories of Ernst Gombrich and Kendall Walton, analyzes the process of influence and effects of imported prints on Iranian painting by looking at three works in Farangi-sazi style as samples. The research, by using a descriptive-analytical method, seeks to answer whether some of the features of Farangi-sazi can be attributed to the transfer of painterly image via reproductive pictures. First, by using Walton’s ideas, three Frangi-sazi paintings and their source gravures, distortion in perception of genre besides the effects of losing data on perception of execution techniques are analyzed. Then, by using Ernst Gombrich’s method, appropriation and matching from European painting focusing on schema, technique, color, scale, contrast, style and ornamental designs have been examined. The result of this study suggests that encounters with European images from different periods, popular to high art, combined with unfamiliarity with Western painting genres, styles and history may have impaired the understanding of Western art. Furthermore, after distortion in some data during printmaking, Iranian artists have combined or substituted those items with elements of Iranian painting.