"My Name Is Red"

[fiefoe]

<why >

• They hire us, and we try to make the most mysterious, the most unattainable horse, just as the old masters did.
• I wanted the immortality of a tree, the weariness of a horse and the vulgarity of a dog to represent His Excellency Our Sultan and His worldly realm.
• It is indeed important that a painting, through its beauty, summon us toward life's abundance, toward compassion, toward respect for the colors of the realm which God created, and toward reflection and faith. The identity of the miniaturist is not important.
• God must've wanted the art of illumination to be ecstasy so He could demonstrate how the world itself is ecstasy to those who truly See.
• I thank Allah that I, the humble tree before you, have not been drawn with such (Frankish ) intent. ... I don't want to be a tree, I want to be its meaning.
  

<the opposing camps>
__ The painting wasn't the extension of a story at all, it was something in its own right.
__ The Venetian masters had discovered painting techniques with which they could distinguish any one man from another... just by the distinctive shape of his face. This was the essence of 'portraiture.'

__ the refinement to realize that looking at the drawing of a tree is more pleasant than looking at a tree;
__ What was venerated as style was nothing more than an imperfection or flaw that revealed the guilty hand.

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