Ali Asghar (painter)

Ali Asghar (fl. circa 1570-1600)[1] was an Iranian court painter in Safavid Iran. He was the father of the renowned miniaturist Reza Abbasi.

Biography

Ali Asghar was a native of Kashan. According to the accounts of Qazi Ahmad, Ali Asghar was one of his (Qazi Ahmad) teachers in miniature painting. He probably began his career under Safavid Shah Tahmasp I (r. 1524-1576), before moving to Mashhad where he became one of the leading painters in the service of the princely governor Ibrahim Mirza, alongside Sheikh Mohammad and Abd-Allah.[2][3]

According to the court historian Iskandar Beg Munshi, Ali Asghar excelled in landscape painting (streets and trees).[2] He later worked for Shah Ismail II (r. 1576-1577) at the Safavid capital of Qazvin.[3] His style probably influenced the early works of his illustrious son Reza Abbasi.

References
  1. Canby 1999, p. 38.
  2. Gray 1986, p. 890.
  3. Robinson 1988, p. 125.

Sources
  • Canby, Sheila R. (1999). The Rebellious Reformer: The Drawings and Paintings of Riza-yi Abbasi of Isfahan. Bloomsbury Academic.
  • Gray, Basil (1986). "The arts in the Safavid period". In Lockhart, Laurence; Jackson, Peter (eds.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 6: The Timurid and Safavid Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20094-6.
  • Robinson, B. W. (1988). "ʿAlī Aṣghar, Court Painter". Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies. 26 (1): 125–128. doi:10.2307/4299806. JSTOR 4299806.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.