An Investigation of Iranian Churches Textile Marouflage (Case Study: Vank Cathedral, Madonna Church in Isfahan, Madonna Church in Tabriz)

There are specific forms of mural paintings in some Iranian Churches that are different from other usual wall paintings in materials, methods as well as implementation techniques. Unfortunately, these mural paintings are not studied until now. The aim of this paper is the identification of history of development, and used materials and techniques in these historic paintings by field and literature investigations. Regarding limited literature in this field (especially in Persian language), the first stage of this study has focused on European textile Marouflage and in the second stage, textile Marouflage of Vank Cathedral, Madonna Church in Isfahan and Madonna Church in Tabriz are investigated. At the Renaissance period, some technical changes were occurred in operation process of large wall paintings and ceiling paintings that finally led to a new and different type that is noticed as Marouflage in this paper. These paintings are executed on the layer of cloth (canvas) and then installed on the wall that is known as a part of the architecture arrays. In this paper, the process of formation of this type of wall painting in Europe was studied and present examples of this method in Iranian churches are introduced and explained.