New painting by artist Chingiz Mehbaliyev called “The rescue of Ismayil”
According to the artist, for the subject of the painting he referred to the book of historian-professor Ziya Bunyadov called “The history of Azerbaijan”. The book describes childhood years that Shah Ismayil spent in grimly struggle and his political activity.
According to the page 398 of the book: “Aggoyunlu ruler, Rustam has sent several threatening letters to Gargiya Mirza Ali demanding delivery of Ismayil. As a response, he put him to the basket and hanged at the tree with dense leafs at the same time swore to the Quran in front of Gasim Bey who visited with 300 horsemen that Ismayil’s foot is not on the land of Gilan.” The artist said the following: This story has been first brought into my attention by my literature teacher - Mr. Tofig. Then I realized that this story is based on real and historical facts.
The artist disclosed his approach before starting to paint this picture as following: - I wanted to create a painting to show that harsh nature of Shah Ismayil comes from his childhood years.
I think that hiding in a basket and seeing the killer who came to take your life and understanding that you can get killed anytime is a very cruel life experience. Taking into account that Shah Ismayil was born in 1487 and a cruel chase of Aggoyunlu ruler Rustam happened in 1494, we can assume that Ismayil was only 7 years old. In my point of view experiencing such feelings in such a young age has left indelible marks in formation of his personality.
Quick-wittedness, wisdom, and courage of Mirza Ali who was a ruler of one of the South Azerbaijan region (Gilan) won my sympathy. He acted really smart and wise and swore in a way that he neither committed a sin, nor told a lie - the artist continues. According to the artist, to hang little Ismayil on the tree and to say “I swear that his foot is not in this land” - requires not just a sharp mind and wisdom, it also requires courage. For that reason I described Mirza Ali as an experienced respected old man who bravely looks at the eyes of the death.
The soldier of Gasim bey hands Holy book Quran to Mirza Ali and from his side Mirza Ali puts his right hand on the Koran and swears while pointing his left thumb to the ground. This stand is the expression of the following words at the picture: “I swear that Shah Ismayil’s foot is not in this land”.
I depicted Gasim bey holding an Aggoyunlu flag in his hand because he came from Aggoyunlu state. The pick end of the flagpole is pointed to the hidden basket among the dense leafs. This gives us a clue about the position of Ismayil at the picture. At the same time it points out that Ismayil will create a new state with new flag. The artist continues to talk about the message of the painting: - Mirza Ali swears just in front of Gasim bey but Gasim bey is unaware that Ismayil is hidden on the tree right above his head.
This painting of mine is the first one which is painted on the mentioned subject concludes the artist Chingiz Mehbaliyev.
Other news in this section
