IRAN, PROBABLY ISFAHAN, 17TH CENTURY

These portraits were probably produced by a European artist working in Isfahan. Shah 'Abbas (r. 1587-1629) showed a keen interest in European art both by directly acquiring European paintings as well as seeking to attract European painters to travel to the Safavid court. According to the French traveller Tavernier, the Dutch East India Company sent two Dutch artists to the Shah in Isfahan to teach him to draw. Among these artists a certain Philips van Angel (b. 1618) is recorded as producing at least five paintings for the Shah during his stay in Isfahan from 1650-55. It is likely that our paintings were produced during the mid-17th Century by one of the European artists brought to Isfahan by the outward-looking Shah.