Behzad

Kamaleddin Behzad or Kamal od-DIN Bihzad کمالالدینبهزاد , known as Behzad or Bihzad was a large Master of the Miniature Persian originating in Herat (current Afghanistan), credit at the court of the Timouride Hosseyn Bāyqara (875-912 AH/1470-1506), during the last decades of the Renaissance timouride. It then passed to the service of the Safavides in the royal workshops of Tabriz. It was born towards 1450 with Herat and died towards 1535 - 1536 with Tabriz. Many work is allotted to him, but only some are recognized as being of its hand. It inspired a style of Miniature Persian which will remain a reference after its death.

The problem of the information sources

The most reliable sources of information on the life of Behzad are probably the people who have a direct relationship with the court of Herat or the court safavide. People like the sovereign Bâbur, the Khwandamir historian or Mirza Haydar Duglāt for Herat or Dust Mohammad, Qazui Ahmad Qomi or Eskandar Beg Monshi for the Safavide period. The information given by the authors Moghol S or Othoman S is generally deformed by the considerable myths which existed then around Behzad and of its works.

The authors of Herat note that Behzad was initially employed by Mir to ʿAlishir Navāʿi then by the Sultan Hosseyn Bāyqara. All specify that Behzad was initially subordinated to Ruh-Allāh Mirak Naqqāsh, which directed initially the workshop of Mir 'Alishir then of Hosseyn Sultan. Qazui Ahmad Qomi specifies that after being become orphan, Behzad is dealt with by Mirak, without to specify the bonds between them. Certain researchers think that it had brothers or sisters, whose children became its pupils. The career of Behzad starts in the years 1470, and the majority of works which are allotted to him date from the period 1480-1495. Sheila Canby specifies that he was rather opposed to the dominant policy of the time, without to be militant. Basil Gray says that it directs the workshop of Hossein Sultan in 1496, after having directed that Mir to ʿAlishir Navāʿi (the exact dates are not known).

After the fall of Hosseyn Bāyqara in 1506, the life of Behzad is much less known. The Bâbur-nāmeh specifies that Behzad would have returned to the service of Muhammad Shaybāni Khan between 1507 and 1510. There exists an anecdote besides on this subject: Muhammad Shaybāni Khan would have required of Behzad to paint it, but finishes itself painting because it was not satisfied with the result. One indeed knows a portrait of this character gone back to 1508, but it is difficult to know exactly the functions of the painter during these three years

Behzad with the service of Safavides

One does not know how Behzad returned to the service of the Safavides, but it seems certain that he was the Master of young prince Tahmasp whereas this one was in Hérat as governor. The first document making it possible to connect it to the court safavide is a decree of Shah Ismail gone back to 1522 naming it with the head of the royal workshop. This document is disputed by certain researchers: indeed, there is a chronological inconsistency on the datings of the epistolary collections contained in the Namā-ye nāmi of Khwandamir. The other document binding Behzad and Shah Ismail is an anecdote contained in the Manāqeb-e honarvarān of Mostafā 'Ali Gallipoli, scientist Othoman, in 1587. The text describes how Behzad and the calligrapher Shah Mahmud Nishapuri accompanied Shah Ismail with the battles of Chaldoran and were hidden by him by fear of Othoman victory. The anecdote being coupled with prophecies on the Othoman victory, there exist large doubts about its historicity and its authenticity.

The authors give few details of the life of Behzad to the court safavide. It is almost certain that it was placed at the head of the royal kitab khana, i.e. that he directed all the painters, calligraphers, illuminators, bookbinders, etc who worked in the workshop of the Shah, giving the principal lines of the style developed then. Qazui Ahmad says that it illustrated a Khamseh Nizami, penmanship by Shāh Mahmud Nishāpuri. It is Dust Mohammad which specifies that Behzad died in the service of Tahmasp and was buried with Tabriz beside Sheikh Kamāl Kojandi, in 935 A.H (1535-1536).

It finished its life at the court safavide of Tabriz, surrounded members of his family. Its nephew, the calligrapher Rostam 'Ali, followed his lesson in Tabriz; and its great nephews Mohebb 'Ali and Mozaffar 'Ali, both painters, were them also employed at the court safavide. In this book, the five illustrations are signed of Behzad, more or less discreetly. The Colophon is signed by the scribe, Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi and is gone back to 1488, and two of the miniatures are gone back to 1488-89.

The other works allotted stylistiquement to Behzad, or its collaborator close relations with Herat, are the following ones:

a copy of the Bustan of Saadi dated 1478, which remains disputed;
a copy of the Zafarnameh (“Book of the victory”) of Aldine Sharaf `Ali Yazdi, gone back to 1467 and dedicated to Hosseyn Bāyqara. Allotted by the emperor moghol Jahangir, it underwent many final improvements in India and would contain eight minitures of the hand of the Master;
a copy of Mantiq Al-tayr (“Conference of the birds”) of `Attar, gone back to 1483;
a copy of the Khamseh of “Alishir Navā' I gone back to 890 AH;
a copy of the Khamseh of Friendly Kusraw Dihlavi gone back to 890 AH;
a copy of the Golestan of Saadi gone back to muharram 891 AH;
two copies of the Khamseh of Nizami, one gone back to the 900/1494-1495 and other gone back to 846 AH.

Sheila Canby considers that one cannot be sure attribution of miniatures with Behzad before those contained in a copy of the Golestan (“the Rosery”), preserved at Paris and gone back to 1496.

In its Safavides years, it is also necessary to announce several contributions to large manuscripts, like the Guy U Chowgân of Arifi gone back to 1524 - 1525, at the sides of Sultan Muihammad, Aqa Mirak, Dust Muhammad and even Shah Tahmasp itself.

Style of Behzad

Several features are characteristic of Behzad, and will remain employed a long time after its death, in Iran as in India.

Behzad is announced first of all by an alive style. Its characters, often engaged in actions of the daily life, generally present varied postures, attitudes and feelings, little stereotyped. Its representations are marked by a form of realism, and even by a certain humor. Specialists as Sheila Canby consider that it has can be drawn according to alive models.

Behzad does not put fine at the dominating decorative aspect before him in the art of the miniature, but it mixes “traditional” elements with others newer, like scenes of the contemporary daily life, treated in manner plus naturalist. In the copy of Bustan de Saadi for example, it represents flowered trees (a very old reason, which draws its sources in the pre-Islamic Zoroastrisme) but a couple close to a well adds to it. It modifies also the way of representing the sovereign: either in the center, but with the variation, by magnifiant it by a reef tackle.

This renewal is also marked by a great science of the composition, and much of inventiveness in this field

The work of the color is also very characteristic and innovative at Behzad, and reinforces the effects of its compositions. Admittedly, it makes use mainly of flat tints of colors, but its pallet is modulated much than before, its colors are mixed and are answered. Gray considers in addition that Behzad has a knowledge of the colors “much more scientific than in all former painting”

In India Moghole

The emperors moghols Bābur, Humāyun, Akbar, Jahāngir and Shāh Jahān had certain manuscripts containing of the works allotted to Behzad. When Humāyun flees the Hindoustan in 1536, it takes along with him a Timurnameh illustrated by Behzad. Its successors will add other volumes to the royal library. The paintings signed or allotted to Behzad were also a source of inspiration for the artists of the India Moghol E. Two artists of Iranian origin, Mir Sayyid' Ali and Mir' Abdus Samad, learned the miniature according to the lesson drawn from work from Behzad. They supervised the imperial workshops thereafter moghols, which would partly explain the influence of work of Behzad in the miniature moghole.

An attentive examination of certain miniatures of the Zafarnāmeh of Baltimore, Khamseh of British Library and Golestan of 1486 show that they were used as models with several artists moghols makes say Pamuk to the one of the characters of this novel which describes the universe of the workshops of miniaturists of the Sultan Murad III in the Ottoman Empire of the end of the 16th century.

Appendices

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