Reza Abbasi, a foremost Persian painter of all times
July 4, 2011 - 14:12
Reza Abbasi (c. 1565–1635) was the leading Persian miniaturist of the Isfahan School during the later Safavid period, spending most of his career working for Shah Abbas I.
The line of his ink drawings has an absolute mastery conveying texture, form, movement and even personality. His colored figures, which must often be portraits, are more restrained, and lay more emphasis on the fashions of the day, the rich textiles, the carelessly draped turban, the European hat. Effete figures are often presented standing in a curved posture which accentuates their well-fed waists.
Reza Abbasi was the son of Ali Asghar of Kashan who painted at the court of Prince Ibrahim Mirza, the Safavid viceroy at Mashhad, which was then (1556–77) the foremost Iranian centre of the development of the arts. While Reza was young, his genius and talent brought him to the notice of Shah Abbas at Isfahan School, and by 1596 he was regarded as having no rival.
Isfahan School prospered during the Safavid period under the patronage of Shah Abbas I. But immediately after this he fell into low company, spending most of his time with athletes and wrestlers, and paid hardly any attention to his art.
Reza Abbasi is regarded as one of the foremost Persian painters and calligrapher of all times. He received his training in the atelier of his father, Ali Asghar. Abbassi was received into the workshop of Shah Abbas I at an immature age. At 38, he received the honorific title of Abbasi from his patron, and it seems that before long, he left the Shah's employ in order to seek greater freedom to associate with simple people. In 1610 he returned to the court and sustained in the employ of the Shah until he died.
His area of expertise was the Persian miniature, with an inclination for naturalistic subjects. Reza was the final great Persian painter of uniqueness. His style had an ineffaceable influence on the Isfahan school. His greatly elaborate style features plump, effete figures in artificial poses, but drawn with a magnificently fluid line and painted in an expressionist, nonrealistic way. Presently his works are displayed in numerous major museums of the western world, such as the Smithsonian, the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.