Rose and The Nightingale Giclee by Laurie Blum

The Rose and The Nightingale December, 2004 Shiraz, Iran "This work is inspired by Hafez's Ghazel: The Rose and The Nightingale. Each rose and nightingale is my tribute to the nightingale which lost its life, piercing its breast on the thorn of the rose while trying to become one with its beloved.I painted the English Robin and later heard an old fable maintains that Robin got its red breast from a splash of the blood of Christ. As I painted I felt I was communing with my Beloved within me. There are many species of Nightingales in the world; when I painted this, my first "Nightingales" painting, I had yet to learn, the true Nightingale of which Hafez speaks is the Red-Vented Bulbul. I painted roses from the Garden of Paradise and the gardeners even gave me some roses to take back to my hotel room to paint from at night. When the Shiraz Cultural Institute saw this painting, Mr. Navid said, “You paint with the colors of Shiraz! This painting should be called “'Shiraz' because it has all