Scuola Kostantiniyye

Artist:

Date: 1530-1535

W. 7.5 in. (19.05 cm)

W. 12 1/2 in. (31.8 cm)

Credit Line: Darin Smith Collection of Persian Miniatures and Other Persian Art Objects, Bequest of E. Darin Smith Trust, 2007

Behzad accompanied Pasha Ibrahim on a trip to Rome as an envoy to Pope Clement VII in the Spring of 1532, as the weakened Pope felt the strain of both the Ottoman threat and the continued strengthening Reformation to the North. The Papal States had been invaded continuously in the 1520s as Francis I, King of France, and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor sought to exert their power throughout the Italian peninsula. 

The secret meetings which lasted over two weeks, set the stage for the “Unholy Alliance” that would see the Pope align with the Ottoman Turks, to destroy the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Behzad was struck by the frescoes in the Pope’s chambers, particularly the Stanza della Segnatura.

During his visit, Behzad made this illustration, juxtaposing Plato and Aristotle with Mohammad and Jesus as an allegory to the relationship between Suleiman and Pope Clement. Like Raphael, Behzad included Muslim luminaries including Jami, and a self-portrait of the artist, himself in the right-foreground, standing holding a folio.