Harvard museums to show Persian artwork

The Harvard Art Museums in the US state of Massachusetts will provide an exhibition of Persian classic paintings.

The exhibition of Persian paintings will be held at Harvard University’s Art Museums in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from May 20-August 13.

On display will be several pages from different editions of Persian poet Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh (Book of Kings).

The exhibition features Harvard alumnus Bernard Berenson’s collection of illustrated Persian manuscripts and detached folios, which he collected in the early 20th century. The late famous American art historian became a connoisseur of Italian Renaissance painting.

The US exhibit offers the first opportunity to see the works outside Italy, where he kept them at his estate in Florence. They are grouped according to the style in which each was created between the 14th and 17th centuries in Iran and Central Asia.

Additional related works from the nearby museums, including the Morgan Library and Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, will also be displayed at the exhibit.

Among the works to be showcased at the event, there are several pages from different editions of the Shahnameh, the long epic poem written by Ferdowsi.

Iran celebrated National Ferdowsi Day on May 15 this year, in commemoration of a literati celebrated as the most influential figure in Persian literature and one of the greatest in the history of literature.

AI/AI