The first chapters of Genesis feature a vision of paradise in an idyllic setting—a lush and peaceful garden full of flowing water and plenteous fruit. Perhaps out of a desire to return to that lost paradise, the ideal garden in both Christian and Muslim tradition has been based on that Edenic exemplar. Through illuminated manuscripts and illustrated books from 15th-century France and 16th-century Iran, Paradise Imagined: The Garden in the Islamic and Christian World explores the art of the garden as an expression of religious devotion, kingly justice, poetic inspiration and carnal love. Despite the broad cultural gap, the […]
