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This painting depicts a well-known passage from the story of Layla and Majnun described in the third book of Nizami's 'Khamsah or 'Quintet'. Separated by their respective tribes' hostility, forced marriage, and years of exile into the wilderness, the two ill-fated lovers meet again for the last time before their deaths thanks to the intervention of Majnun's elderly messenger.<br/><br/> On seeing each other in a palm-grove outside Layla's camp, they both faint of passion and pain. The old messenger attempts to revive the lovers, while the wild animals protect Majnun by attacking unwarranted intruders.<br/><br/> The location and time of the narrative is suggested by the two tents dressed in the middleground and the dark night sky in the background. The composition's style is typical of paintings made in the city of Shiraz during the second half of the 16th century.
Layla and Majnun, also known as The Madman and Layla – in Arabic ليلى مجنون (Majnun and Layla) or قيس وليلى (Qays and Layla), in Persian: لیلی و مجنون (Leyli o Majnun), Leyla ile Mecnun in Turkish, لیلا مجنو (lailā majanū) in Urdu and Bengali – is a classical Arab story, popularized by Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi's masterpiece, Layli o Majnun. <br/><br/> It is based on the real story of a young man called Majnun during the Umayyad era in the 7th century when Arabs defeated Persia and Ctesiphon was destroyed. In one version, he spent his youth together with Layla, tending their flocks. In another version, upon seeing Layla he fell passionately in love with her. In both versions, however, he went mad when her father prevented him from marrying her; for that reason he came to be called Majnun (Arabic: مجنون) meaning 'mad'.
Often thought of as an Arabian version of Romeo and Juliet, Layla and Majnun is a classical story of star-crossed lovers based on the true story of a young man called Qays ibn al-Mulawwah from the northern Arabian Peninsula during the Umayyad era in the 7th century. In one version, he spent his youth together with Layla tending their flocks. In another version, upon seeing Layla he fell passionately in love with her. In both versions, however, he went mad when her father prevented him from marrying her. For that reason he came to be called Majnun, a synonym in Arabic for 'madman'.