The second of the pair of portrait of Europe’s first great Muslim rulers. This is Abd al-Rahman III, Europe’s first Caliph, and head of the Umayyad dynasty in Cordoba in the 9-10th century. He is surrounded by images and symbols that represent his magnificent country palace, the famous Madinat al-Zahra, with its zoo of exotic animals, new and rare plants that flourished in the gardens, and the great bowl of mercury in the Caliph’s throne room, which shone and flashed with thunderbolts of light when it was stirred. The metallic copper and gold tones of the painting evoke the radiance of the place, and the caliph’s fabulous wealth and power.
Abd al-Rahman III
