Kamāl ud-Din Behzād

Kamāl ud-Din Behzād, the most famous Iranian painter and miniaturist, was born ad Herat in the 1450. His date of birth and that of death are not known exactly.

He finished his studies in the Herat library at Mirak Naqqāsh and soon became very skilled in portrait and painting.

In the last years 70 of the fifteenth century until the year 1507, he served in the library of the Sultan Hossein Bāigherā painting, decorating books and working as a librarian.

Behzād in the year 1520 went to Tabriz which was the capital of King Esmāil Safavi and for a period he served at the royal library but later returned to his birthplace.

Given the celebrity of Behzād over the centuries, many have imitated his works and have performed numerous paintings with his name. Therefore, distinguishing his main works is difficult. The information that can be obtained from his works, are illustrations that bear his original signature present in a copy of the "Bustan"Of Sa'di and now they are kept in the Cairo National Library.

Among the remaining works of Kamāl ud-Din Behzād which can be found in Iranian and Western museums, the following paintings and illustrations can be mentioned:

-Quintet Mir Ali-Shir Navā'i

- Quintet Amir Khosrow Dehlavi

-The Golestān of Sa'di

-Portrait of "Sultan Hossein Bāyqarā with the mausoleum and his escort in a garden"

- Military Quintet

-Ascod Al-Din Ali Yazdi conquest poem

- Circular frame "landscape of the elderly and the young"

-Quadro with "two camels at war with servants"

Behzād died in 1535 in Herāt or Tabriz. According to some, his mausoleum is located on a mountain called Mokhtār near Herāt, according to others in Tabriz, near the Dokamāl mausoleum.

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