Art Of Seduction : A Cautionary Tale

The (Failed) Art of Seduction: A Cautionary Tale

The Byzantine Empire was a primarily Christian empire whose reign started in 330 A.D and ended in 1453 A.D with the capturing of the its capital, Constantinople by the Muslim Sultan Mehmed II. In the years following the fall of the Byzantines, many of the Christian basilicas were transformed into mosques for Islamic worship, inspiring many artists to create works that embodied their religious politics. One of the pieces created following the fall of the Byzantine Empire is the painting of Yusuf Fleeing Zulayhka, created in 1488 by Kamal al-Din Bihzad, a famous Persian painter who worked under the patronage of several Persian sultans. The illustration depicts Yusuf’s struggle to escape his master’s wife Zulaykha as she chases him through her elaborate palace in an attempt to seduce him. The representation was made using paint, ink and gold, and features jewel-like colors in order to portray the extravagancy of the palace Zulayhka has built specifically for the seduction of Yusuf (Stokstad 286). This essay will assess three accounts of the story of Yusuf and Zulaykha and the reasoning behind why the narrative is often labelled as a cautionary tale and of what kind.

Bihzad has placed strong emphasis on the complexity of the palace’s architecture which he has adorned with colorful ornaments and emblazoned with gold. Each room is decorated with rugs and tiles featuring complex floral and asymmetrical patterns that cover each chamber from floor to ceiling. The palace appears to be three stories tall and features a balcony on the left and a zigzagging staircase on the right. The asymmetrical style of these two architectural features gives the impression of the work being 3-dimensional ...

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...n the painting as it is made apparent that it requires an immense amount of effort on his part to break away from his Zulaykha’s advances. However, she fails to focus on the surrounding structure of the painting. According to Humphrey, the painting of Yusuf and Zulaykha portrays the cautionary tale that good things come to those who wait.

The story of Yusuf and Zulaykha is no doubt a cautionary tale, the sort of which is almost entirely based off of the context studied behind the painting. It is also made apparent that the main focus of the art piece tends to be dependent on the context of the tale. Being an optimist myself, I believe that the most reasonable analysis is that of Humphrey as the context behind her analysis of the art piece contains more depth than the others. And as the bible says, “The lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him.”