نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسندگان
1 گروه گرافیک دانشکده تجسمی دانشگاه هنر اصفهان ایران
2 دانشگاه
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
موضوعات
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسندگان [English]
illustration that is known today as a scientific illustration because the coexistence and association of science and art have long been part of the characteristics of the progress of any civilization. Scientific illustration is a method of communication that allows complex ideas, details, and theories to be presented in an interesting and informative approach. It is possible to more clearly communicate scientific concepts through illustrations rather than the technical jargon often used to describe them. Drawing or rendering scientific images in an accurate manner is how these artists or illustrators communicate science and inform audiences. Pedanius Dioscorides, a renowned Greek physician in the first century AD, authored his book “Materia Medica”. This book is considered one of the primary sources of botany and zoology in Islamic and Western civilizations. Dioscorides was born in the first century AD in Anazarba, a town in northern Cilicia (southeastern Asia Minor) and probably studied at nearby Tarsus, which was renown for the study of pharmacology. Describing himself as having lived a "soldier's life," he confesses to having traveled widely, including Greece, Crete, Egypt, and Petra. In about AD 65, after much direct observation of plants in their native habitats and careful practical experience on the medicinal uses of herbs, as well as those derived from animals and minerals, Dioscorides wrote De Materia Medica in five books "on the preparation, properties, and testing of drugs" (Preface, I), each chapter dealing with a single substance, its description, preparation, and therapeutic properties. Dioscorides' plant descriptions use an elementary classification, though he cannot be said to have used botanical taxonomy. Book one describes the uses for aromatic oils, salves and ointments, trees and shrubs, and fleshy fruits, even if not aromatic.
Since the 6th century AD, it has been feasible to analyze Al-Hashaish book In Europe. “From the third century onwards, after translating this book into Arabic, books and treatises on pharmaceuticals and pharmacology were written based on it. The impact of Al-Hashish book was so noticeable that Islamic sages did not almost use any book in the field of medicine and particularly herbs as much as this book. Additionally, illustrators in different eras illustrated and reproduced this book plenty of times in order not only to make these images reflect the visual aspects but also to represent the subtleties and facts of the scientific text“Scientific illustration” as the title suggests, represents the visual aspects of scientific topics and observations of the natural world; in this type of illustration, it is important to establish a relationship between science and art. This research focuses on introducing two Islamic and Western versions titled “Al-Hashaish – Qawi Al-Aghziyah” available in the library of the Iranian Parliament (book identification code: 7739-10) and “Discorsi Matioli” available in the British Museum Library (book identification code: 22332). Both versions are illustrated and compiled based on Dioscorides’ Materia Medica, and historically belong to the Safavid and Renaissance periods (990 AH / 1582 AD and 972 AH / 1564 AD). This research aims to study the artistic style and scientific illustration methods in these versions comparatively. The research questions include: 1- What is the artistic style and scientific illustration method in the illustrated versions of Al-Hashaish in the libraries of the Iranian Parliament and the British Museum? 2- Which version aligns more with scientific illustration criteria and performs better in terms of scientific legitimacy? The research methodology in this article is descriptive-analytical based on library studies and reference to visual images of medicinal plants. Through comparative study of the versions alongside historical description and analysis of images, the authors have reached research results. The research results indicate that Islamic and Western artists have employed different styles in illustrating scientific texts. Also, if the main goal of the scientific illustration of the Materia Medica book is to know as much as possible the samples and their different types in nature; The western version (Mattioli's Discourse) has presented a better scientific illustration using the technique of execution and various real colors.
Scrutinizing the images of these two versions suggests that due to the lack of visual nobility to the plants and also the commitment to the nature of the previous version, the artist of the Al-Hashish Islamic Council Library version was content with his creativity and mental strength for the illustration of this version. Meanwhile, the illustrator of the Italian version, a well-known artist and botanist of that time, was the owner of a herbarium that he had started collecting since 1532, implying that the image of the plants, the place where they grow, the type of their cultivation and harvesting have been completely evident to the artist. That’s why the artist could refer to the objective reality of the plants more than the scientific text to depict the plants.
کلیدواژهها [English]
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