An Inquiry into the Relationship Between Miniature Painting and Perspective in Renaissance and Iranian Architecture: A Phenomenological Approach with Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

Evolutionary narratives in art history have regarded Renaissance linear perspective as the culmination of spatial representation and Iranian miniature painting as a primitive stage of visual depiction. This study raises the question of whether these two constitute independent perceptual systems or whether one is more advanced than the other. Employing a qualitative approach grounded in foundational theoretical analysis, the present research examines four major discourses of perspective—those of Erwin Panofsky, Hubert Damisch, Jacques Lacan, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty—through an integration of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception and Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis. Two prominent architectural examples—Santa Maria Novella in Florence and Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque in Isfahan—were examined across the three levels of description, interpretation, and explanation. Linear perspective in Renaissance architecture is manifested through the symmetrical central plan, the dome as a focal point, uniform illumination, and the central role of the subject grounded in humanism. In contrast, the perceptual logic of miniature painting in Iranian-Islamic architecture is embodied in the central courtyard with asymmetrical iwans, embodied and multisensory perception, temporal and variable light, chiasm (the intertwining of body and world), and the mobile observer. Miniature painting and perspective are therefore understood as two independent perceptual systems founded upon distinct ontological principles: miniature painting is rooted in the “imaginal world” and Islamic mysticism, whereas perspective is grounded in Western humanism and rationalism. The inadequacy of linear perspective for representing miniature painting stems from epistemological differences rather than technical deficiency. The theory of “discursive and multilayered relationality” is proposed as a new theoretical framework. The study is limited to two architectural cases, and further intercultural comparative studies adopting a phenomenological approach across other historical periods are recommended.