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Enzie,
Quite an accomplished painting, but I much prefer the original art of the cultures themselves, rather than the European renderings of them.
I much prefer the Savahid paintings to this, which, I must say looks like a set piece, like the Alma-Tademas, Bargues and Geromes.
The Persians had a very lyrical way of depicting their life and culture with beauty and elegance, which is lost in the over romanticized depiction of the European painters.
The art and culture of the East, Asia and Africa had a stunning and revitalizing effect on European art, from the Japonaiserie of Whistler to the Odalisques of Matisse.
In the West, academic painting worships at the fountain of form, leaving color and design as second cousins. Add ons as it were. What has been lost is engaging, rhythmic pictorial compositions and jewel-like color.
The paintings of these cultures were the inspiration of the painters of the Impressionist period. They showed that art did not have to be about the picture plane, correct rendering, but it could be joyful, lyrical and colorful all on its own.
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