Publication Date
Late eleventh century AH / late seventeenth century AD
Publication Place
-
Rietberg Museum
Subject
Oil colors on canvas
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الارتفاع: 27.5 سم، العرض: 21.5 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
2013.180
Record ID
object;EPM;sw;Mus21;15;ar
Library Location
Rietberg Museum
Date
Late eleventh century AH / late seventeenth century AD
Notes
The painting of the Persian man is traditionally associated with the painting of a lavishly dressed woman. Given his clothing, there is no doubt that the man is a Safavid nobleman. He is standing in front of a basin of water in the courtyard of a luxurious Persian house. The way the colors were layered in multiple layers, as well as the symmetry between light and shadow, clearly reveals that the painter was trained in Europe. This is also evidenced by the fact that the painter mixed the wet colors directly on the canvas and executed the highlights in thick leaden white. Likewise is the somber European color range and preference for shaded colours. They represent a stark contrast to the Persian preference for pure, bright colours. This painting and the Noble Woman in the same group are perhaps the very rare, if not the only, known examples of pictorial paintings by European artists in Persia. We know from sources that in the 17th century many painters from Europe, especially from the Netherlands, worked for the kings of Iran.
Sample Text
Axel Langer “Nabil Persian” in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;sw;Mus21;15;ar
