Famous Persian Painters, from Behzad to Farshchian

The most famous Persian painters include Ahmad Musa of the 14th century; Kamal al-Din Behzad of Herat; the Safavid masters Sultan Muhammad, Aqa Mirak, Mir Sayyid Ali, Reza Abbasi, Mu'in Musavvir and Muhammad Zaman; the Qajar court painters Mihr Ali, Sani al-Molk and Kamal-ol-Molk; and the 20th-century painters Hossein Behzad, Mahmoud Farshchian and Sohrab Sepehri. Each one below is dated and tied to the museum, library or reference work that documents the work.

The page runs in order of time, from the Mongol court to the modern era, and ends with a summary table and notes on how attributions work. It is part of our guide to contemporary Iranian and Persian painting.

Key takeaways

• The Encyclopaedia Iranica says all the documentary evidence about Ahmad Musa comes from one source, an album made in 1554 for the Safavid prince Bahram Mirza, now in the Topkapi Palace Library in Istanbul.
• The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto attributes The Court of Kayumars, from the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, to Sultan Muhammad, a native of Tabriz who taught painting to the young shah.
• LACMA says Mir Sayyid Ali left the Safavid court for the Mughal emperor Humayun, and from 1562 until his death in 1572 directed the Hamzanama for the emperor Akbar.
• The Encyclopaedia Iranica says more than 300 paintings and drawings by Mu'in Musavvir survive, spanning 58 years, from 1635 to 1693.
• The Iranica says Sani al-Molk directed 34 painters in 1853 on the 1,134 pages of painting in a six-volume Persian Arabian Nights, now in the Golestan Library.
• The Met says Kamal-ol-Molk, who lived from 1852 to 1940, opened Iran's first Academy of Fine Arts in 1911.
• Tehran Times reports that the Mahmoud Farshchian Museum at the Sadabad palace complex in Tehran opened in 2001 and shows more than 50 of his works.

The Mongol and Timurid courts

Ahmad Musa (14th century)

Ahmad Musa is the earliest painter on this list. The Encyclopaedia Iranica entry by Priscilla P. Soucek says all the documentary evidence about him comes from one source: an album made in 1554 for the Safavid prince Bahram Mirza by his librarian Dust Muhammad, now in the Topkapi Palace Library in Istanbul (Hazine 2154). In its preface, Dust Muhammad writes that under the Il-Khan Abu Sa'id, Ahmad Musa "withdrew the covering from the face of painting" and invented the style of painting still in use in Dust Muhammad's own day.

Dust Muhammad names four books he painted, among them a Mi'raj-nama, an illustrated account of the Mi'raj, the Night Ascension. The album itself holds parts of ten paintings from a Mi'raj-nama, four of them ascribed to Ahmad Musa. The Iranica says a long career would allow these paintings to be dated to c. 1360, and that he remains "a vague figure" despite his fame in modern writing.

Kamal al-Din Behzad (died 1535 or 1536)

Behzad is the painter whose name the Encyclopaedia Iranica calls "synonymous with the high level of artistic skill" of late Timurid Herat. He worked there under Sultan Husayn Bayqara, who ruled from 1470 to 1506, and died in the service of Shah Tahmasp in Tabriz in 1535 or 1536. His most widely accepted paintings illustrate a Bustan of Sa'di with a text dated 1488, in the National Library of Egypt in Cairo. Our page on Persian miniature painting covers his life and work in detail.

The Safavid court at Tabriz

Sultan Muhammad (active first half of the 16th century)

Sultan Muhammad is the painter the Met calls "the most innovative painter of early sixteenth-century Iran". The Aga Khan Museum says he was a native of Tabriz who worked in the Safavid royal library and was employed to teach painting to Shah Tahmasp "upon his return from Herat in 1522". The Iranica's entry on Behzad adds that he was the library's director when Behzad arrived.

Two famous pages are attributed to him. The Aga Khan Museum holds The Court of Kayumars, folio 20 verso of the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, and singles it out among the manuscript's 258 illustrations for its complexity, its colour and the minute scale of its details, with scores of human and animal faces hidden in its rocks. The Met and Harvard Art Museums jointly own his Allegory of Worldly and Otherworldly Drunkenness, from a Divan of Hafez made in Tabriz, ca. 1531 to 1533, in which angels on the roof of a tavern give a drinking party a spiritual meaning.

Aqa Mirak (16th century)

The Encyclopaedia Iranica says Aqa Mirak was a sayyed of Isfahani origin, a pupil of Behzad, and became a close companion of Shah Tahmasp. Dust Muhammad, writing in 1544, names him with Sultan Muhammad and Mir Musavvir as painters of the shah's Shahnameh and Khamsa of Nizami, and in 1550 the prince Sam Mirza called him a leader of the shah's artists. No signed work by him is known. Attributions to him are written on paintings in Shah Tahmasp's Khamsa in London, but the Iranica calls these notes casual and of uncertain value. A later writer called him the supreme master of janvar-sazi, painting built on four creatures of Far Eastern origin; our page on Chinese influence on Persian painting explains that style.

Mir Sayyid Ali (died 1572)

Mir Sayyid Ali carried Persian painting to India. LACMA says he was the son of the painter Mir Musavvir and, like his father, worked for Shah Tahmasp in Tabriz. The Mughal emperor Humayun, in exile at the Safavid court, invited court artists to join him, and Mir Sayyid Ali entered his service in 1549 or 1552. From 1562 until his death in 1572 he directed the Hamzanama, the first large manuscript project of the emperor Akbar. The Iranica lists him among the painters of Shah Tahmasp's Khamsa of 1539 to 1543.

LACMA holds his signed Young Scribe, from an album, dated 1555 to 1556. The signature reads "Depicted by Sayyid 'Ali, the rarity of the kingdom of Humayun Shah". LACMA notes that the painting shows greater depth and sense of space than his works from Iran, while keeping a Persian interest in colour and detail.

The Safavid court at Isfahan

Reza Abbasi (ca. 1565 to 1635)

Reza Abbasi was the leading painter of Shah Abbas I's Isfahan. The Met says he was the son of the court painter Ali Asghar and brought new subjects into Persian painting: languid youths, lovers and half-dressed women, drawn with a "famed calligraphic line". The Iranica's survey of Safavid art says he painted until his death in 1635 and that his students dominated 17th-century painting. The Iranica also names his Bird on a Branch, ca. 1610, in the Seattle Art Museum. His life is told on our page on Persian miniature painting.

Mu'in Musavvir (ca. 1610 to 1693)

Mu'in Musavvir, also written Moin Mosavver, was a student of Reza Abbasi. The Encyclopaedia Iranica entry by Robert Eng places him among the most prominent Safavid artists of the second half of the 17th century, born ca. 1610 to 1615 and dead probably in 1693. More than 300 of his paintings and drawings survive, from 1635 to 1693. They include seven Shahnameh manuscripts with 161 paintings, and many single pages with long inscriptions that record who the subject was and what happened.

The Iranica singles out his drawing A Tiger Attacking a Youth, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, whose inscription suggests he saw or heard of the attack, and his portrait of Reza Abbasi in the Princeton University Library, which he began a month before his teacher's death in 1635 and finished in 1673. His earliest dated work, a Portrait of a Youth of 1638, is in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington. The Iranica says his style turned back to the older values of Persian painting and away from Western fashions.

Muhammad Zaman (active 1649 to 1700)

Muhammad Zaman painted in a mixed style that drew on Europe and India. The Iranica says Shah Abbas II, who ruled from 1642 to 1666, brought Europeanizing painters to his court, the best known being Ali-quli Jabbadar and Muhammad Zaman, and that Shah Soltan Hosayn later commissioned both to portray the Russian ambassador. The Met, which dates his activity 1649 to 1700, owns his A Night-time Gathering from the Davis Album, in which two scholars and their Indian attendants talk by candlelight. The Met says scholars have suggested he painted it either in India or in Iran, in "his eclectic style, which combined European and Mughal Indian elements". In 1722 the shah ordered his son, Muhammad Ali, to paint a group portrait of the king and court.

The Qajar court and after

Mihr Ali (active ca. 1798 to 1815)

Mihr Ali painted the life-size oil portraits of Fath-Ali Shah, who ruled from 1797 to 1834. The Met dates his activity ca. 1798 to 1815 and says he and other court painters made cycles of paintings showing the shah as ruler, warrior and hunter, as "icons of power". The Encyclopaedia Iranica calls him the best of Fath-Ali Shah's court painters and records Sani al-Molk as his pupil in 1829. The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha holds a portrait of Fath-Ali Shah dated 1816, 162 by 110 cm, attributed to Mihr Ali, and says such portraits were sent abroad as gifts to show the wealth and power of the Persian crown. Our page on Qajar painting explains this court art.

Sani al-Molk (1814 to 1866)

Abu'l-Hasan Ghaffari, known by his title Sani al-Molk, came from a family of painters from Kashan. The Encyclopaedia Iranica entry by Basil W. Robinson says a portrait of Mohammad Shah won him a place as court artist in 1842, and that he studied and copied Italian masters in Rome, Florence and Venice from 1846 to 1850. In 1853 he designed and supervised the 1,134 pages of painting in a six-volume Persian translation of the Arabian Nights, now in the Golestan Library, with a team of 34 painters. He later ran the official newspaper, which he illustrated with lithographed portraits, and received his title in 1861. The Iranica calls portraiture "his forte" and describes characterizations that "seem to bring us face-to-face with the subject".

Kamal-ol-Molk (1852 to 1940)

Muhammad Ghaffari, known as Kamal-ol-Molk and spelled Kamal al-Mulk by the Met, trained in Tehran and Europe. The Encyclopaedia Iranica calls him a "widely acclaimed Iranian painter of the European academic style" of the late Qajar and early Pahlavi periods. The Met says he graduated from the Dar al-Funun in Tehran, copied old masters in Paris, Florence and Rome, and "changed the course of painting in Iran". In 1911 he opened Iran's first Academy of Fine Arts, and under his influence painting turned toward naturalism and scenes of everyday life.

Hossein Behzad (1894 to 1968)

Hossein Behzad, born in Tehran, trained in the painting workshops of the Tehran bazaar and specialized in copies of the late Timurid and Safavid styles. The Encyclopaedia Iranica says that many of his early works, including an illustrated Khamsa of Nizami, were sold to Western museums and collectors as genuine Safavid paintings. In 1935 he spent thirteen months in Paris studying manuscripts in the Louvre and the Musee Guimet, and developed the simplified Safavid style, with elements of Western painting, for which he is known. His best-known later work is a set of fifty miniatures for an edition of the quatrains of Omar Khayyam. The Iranica calls him "perhaps the chief representative and advocate of the traditional school of painting in Iran" in the 20th century.

Mahmoud Farshchian (1930 to 2025)

Mahmoud Farshchian was born in Isfahan in 1930. Tehran Times reports that his father, a prominent figure in Isfahan's carpet industry, took him to the workshop of Mirza Aqa Emami, and that after the School of Fine Arts in Isfahan and study of Western art in Europe he taught and directed at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Tehran. The Encyclopaedia Iranica's entry on Faramarz Pilaram records that Farshchian taught Pilaram traditional miniature painting at Tehran's School of Decorative Arts for Boys, founded in 1951. His subjects include Shi'ite traditions and scenes from the Shahnameh, according to Iran International. He lived in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, from 1983, died there on 9 August 2025, and was buried in Isfahan beside the poet Saeb Tabrizi. His works are on permanent display at the Mahmoud Farshchian Museum in Tehran's Sadabad palace complex.

Sohrab Sepehri (1928 to 1980)

Sohrab Sepehri was both a noted poet and a painter. The Encyclopaedia Iranica entry by Houman Sarshar says he grew up in Kashan, finished a degree at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Tehran University in 1953, and showed paintings at the first Tehran Biennale and the Venice Biennale in 1958. At the second Tehran Biennale, in 1960, he won the Grand Prize, and 150 of his gouaches of desert scenes were bought soon after. He studied woodblock printing in Tokyo and, from 1965, worked for a decade on his series of paintings of tree trunks. The American collector Abby Weed Grey bought his work in 1963 and sent it on tour in the United States. Our history of modern Iranian art places him among the modernists of his generation.

The painters at a glance

Famous Persian painters, their dates, their setting and where their work is documented

Painter	Dates	Court or place	Known for	Where the work is documented
Ahmad Musa	14th century	Ilkhanid court under Abu Sa'id	Called the founder of the painting of later times; Mi'raj-nama pages	Topkapi Palace Library, Hazine 2154; Encyclopaedia Iranica
Kamal al-Din Behzad	Died 1535 or 1536	Timurid Herat; Safavid Tabriz	Bustan of Sa'di, text dated 1488	National Library of Egypt, Cairo; Encyclopaedia Iranica
Sultan Muhammad	Active first half of the 16th century	Safavid Tabriz	The Court of Kayumars; Allegory of Worldly and Otherworldly Drunkenness	Aga Khan Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art and Harvard Art Museums
Aqa Mirak	16th century	Safavid Tabriz	Figure painting for Shah Tahmasp; janvar-sazi ornament	Encyclopaedia Iranica
Mir Sayyid Ali	Died 1572	Safavid Tabriz; Mughal India	Young Scribe; director of the Hamzanama	LACMA
Reza Abbasi	ca. 1565 to 1635	Safavid Isfahan	Single-page figures with a calligraphic line	Metropolitan Museum of Art; Seattle Art Museum
Mu'in Musavvir	ca. 1610 to 1693	Safavid Isfahan	Inscribed drawings of Isfahan life; Shahnameh manuscripts	Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Freer Gallery of Art; Princeton University Library
Muhammad Zaman	Active 1649 to 1700	Safavid Isfahan	A style mixing European and Mughal Indian elements	Metropolitan Museum of Art
Mihr Ali	Active ca. 1798 to 1815	Qajar Tehran	Life-size portraits of Fath-Ali Shah	Museum of Islamic Art, Doha; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sani al-Molk	1814 to 1866	Qajar Tehran	The Arabian Nights of 1853; lithographed portraits	Golestan Library; Encyclopaedia Iranica
Kamal-ol-Molk	1852 to 1940	Qajar and Pahlavi Tehran	Academic realism; Iran's first Academy of Fine Arts, 1911	Metropolitan Museum of Art; Encyclopaedia Iranica
Hossein Behzad	1894 to 1968	Tehran	Safavid revival; fifty miniatures for Omar Khayyam	Encyclopaedia Iranica
Mahmoud Farshchian	1930 to 2025	Isfahan, Tehran, New Jersey	Modern miniature painting on religious and Shahnameh subjects	Mahmoud Farshchian Museum, Sadabad, Tehran
Sohrab Sepehri	1928 to 1980	Kashan, Tehran	Desert gouaches; tree trunk series	Encyclopaedia Iranica

Signatures, attributions and copies

Many famous names rest on a small number of certain works. The Encyclopaedia Iranica says only a few paintings are widely accepted as Behzad's own, that no signed work by Aqa Mirak is known, and that the notes naming him on the London Khamsa are of uncertain value. For Ahmad Musa and Aqa Mirak, most of what is known comes from 16th-century writers such as Dust Muhammad and Sam Mirza.

The Iranica says Mu'in Musavvir's single pages often carry long inscriptions and are often dated. The story of Hossein Behzad shows the other side: his early copies in the Safavid manner were sold as genuine Safavid paintings. For a collector, the lesson is to ask how an attribution was made and who made it. Our guide on how to buy contemporary Iranian art explains provenance and certificates.

The tradition in our gallery

The subjects these painters worked on are still painted today. Our page for Kamal al-Din Ghotb says he has practised Persian painting for 41 years and works in the classical negargari tradition in oil and gold on paper. His Mi'raj, dated 2026, takes up the subject of the Mi'raj-nama that Dust Muhammad linked to Ahmad Musa: its product page describes a haloed rider on the winged steed Buraq carried upward through gold clouds by angels, with more than a hundred figures in the panel. See the Kamal al-Din Ghotb collection.

Frequently asked questions

Who are the most famous Persian painters?

The most famous Persian painters include Ahmad Musa of the Ilkhanid court, Kamal al-Din Behzad of Herat, the Safavid masters Sultan Muhammad, Aqa Mirak, Mir Sayyid Ali, Reza Abbasi, Mu'in Musavvir and Muhammad Zaman, the Qajar painters Mihr Ali, Sani al-Molk and Kamal-ol-Molk, and the modern painters Hossein Behzad, Mahmoud Farshchian and Sohrab Sepehri.

Who was Ahmad Musa?

Ahmad Musa was a 14th-century painter at the Ilkhanid court under Abu Sa'id. The Encyclopaedia Iranica says almost all evidence about him comes from a 1554 album compiled by Dust Muhammad, now in the Topkapi Palace Library, which credits him with inventing the painting of later times and ascribes four Mi'raj-nama paintings to him.

Where can I see Sultan Muhammad's paintings in North America?

Sultan Muhammad's paintings can be seen in Toronto and in the United States. The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto owns The Court of Kayumars from the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, which it attributes to him. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Harvard Art Museums jointly own his Allegory of Worldly and Otherworldly Drunkenness, painted in Tabriz ca. 1531 to 1533.

Who was Aqa Mirak?

Aqa Mirak was a 16th-century painter from an Isfahan family of sayyeds, a pupil of Behzad and a close companion of Shah Tahmasp. The Encyclopaedia Iranica says he worked on the shah's Shahnameh and Khamsa, and was later called the supreme master of janvar-sazi ornament. No signed work by him is known.

How did Mir Sayyid Ali shape Mughal painting?

Mir Sayyid Ali shaped Mughal painting by bringing Safavid court training to India. LACMA says he joined the Mughal emperor Humayun in 1549 or 1552, and from 1562 until his death in 1572 directed the Hamzanama for Akbar. His signed Young Scribe at LACMA shows the early Mughal style taking form.

Who was Mu'in Musavvir?

Mu'in Musavvir was a Safavid painter of Isfahan, born ca. 1610 to 1615 and dead probably in 1693, and a student of Reza Abbasi. The Encyclopaedia Iranica says more than 300 of his works survive, including inscribed drawings of daily life such as A Tiger Attacking a Youth in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

What style did Muhammad Zaman paint in?

Muhammad Zaman painted in a late Safavid style that mixed European and Mughal Indian elements with Persian painting, which the Metropolitan Museum of Art calls his eclectic style. The Met dates his activity 1649 to 1700 and owns his A Night-time Gathering. The Encyclopaedia Iranica names him among the Europeanizing painters brought to court by Shah Abbas II.

Who was Mihr Ali?

Mihr Ali was a court painter of Fath-Ali Shah, known for life-size oil portraits of the shah. The Metropolitan Museum of Art dates his activity ca. 1798 to 1815, and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha holds a portrait of Fath-Ali Shah dated 1816 that is attributed to him.

What did Sani al-Molk paint for the Arabian Nights?

Sani al-Molk designed and supervised the 1,134 pages of painting in a six-volume Persian translation of the Arabian Nights in 1853, according to the Encyclopaedia Iranica. A team of 34 painters worked under him, and the manuscript is now in the Golestan Library in Tehran. Sani al-Molk, whose name was Abu'l-Hasan Ghaffari, lived from 1814 to 1866.

Where did Kamal-ol-Molk study painting?

Kamal-ol-Molk studied painting at the Dar al-Funun in Tehran and then in Paris, Florence and Rome, where he copied the works of the old masters, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met gives his dates as 1852 to 1940. His training shaped the naturalism he brought to painting in Iran and to the academy he opened in 1911.

Who was Hossein Behzad?

Hossein Behzad was a Tehran painter who lived from 1894 to 1968 and led the revival of the Safavid style in the 20th century. The Encyclopaedia Iranica says some of his early copies were sold as genuine Safavid paintings, and that after a year in Paris in 1935 he painted fifty miniatures for Omar Khayyam.

Where can I see Mahmoud Farshchian's paintings?

Mahmoud Farshchian's paintings are on permanent display at the Mahmoud Farshchian Museum in Tehran's Sadabad palace complex. Tehran Times reports that the museum opened in 2001 with more than 50 of his works. Farshchian, born in Isfahan in 1930, died in New Jersey on 9 August 2025.

References

1. AHMAD MUSA. Priscilla P. Soucek, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 1984, last updated 8 June 2018; Internet Archive copy of 26 September 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. The album of Bahram Mirza, Dust Muhammad's praise and the Mi'raj-nama paintings.
2. BEHZAD, KAMAL-AL-DIN. Priscilla P. Soucek, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 1989, last updated 6 March 2013; Internet Archive copy of 29 August 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. Behzad's career, death date and the Bustan of 1488, and Sultan Muhammad as director of Tahmasp's library.
3. The Court of Kayumars, AKM165. Aga Khan Museum. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The attribution to Sultan Muhammad, his role as teacher of Shah Tahmasp and the description of the page.
4. Allegory of Worldly and Otherworldly Drunkenness, Folio from the Divan of Hafiz, 1988.430. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Undated; Internet Archive copy of 27 February 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. Sultan Muhammad's dates, the date and subject of the page and its joint ownership with Harvard.
5. AQA MIRAK. Priscilla P. Soucek, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 1986, last updated 25 September 2018; Internet Archive copy of 29 August 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. Aqa Mirak's background, his work for Shah Tahmasp, the lack of signed works and janvar-sazi.
6. Mir Sayyid Ali, Young Scribe, Page from an Album, 1555 to 1556. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. Mir Sayyid Ali's family, his move to Humayun's court, the Hamzanama and the signed painting.
7. ART IN IRAN ix. Safavid to Qajar Periods. Anthony Welch, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 1986, last updated 15 February 2013; Internet Archive copy of 17 May 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. The Khamsa of 1539 to 1543 and its painters, Reza Abbasi's students, and the Europeanizing painters Ali-quli Jabbadar and Muhammad Zaman.
8. The Arts of Iran, 1600 to 1800. Marika Sardar, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Published October 2003; Internet Archive copy of 2 March 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. Reza Abbasi's dates, family, subjects and line.
9. CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS xii. Mutual Influences in Painting. Toh Sugimura, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 1991; Internet Archive copy of 7 April 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. Reza Abbasi's Bird on a Branch in the Seattle Art Museum.
10. MO'IN-E MOSAVVER. Robert Eng, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 19 May 2016, last updated 14 July 2016; Internet Archive copy of 10 October 2025. Accessed 27 September 2026. Mu'in's dates, the number of his works, his inscriptions and the works in Boston, Princeton and Washington.
11. A Night-time Gathering, Folio from the Davis Album. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Undated; Internet Archive copy of 16 March 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. Muhammad Zaman's dates, the subject of the painting and his mixed style.
12. Nineteenth-Century Iran: Art and the Advent of Modernity. Maryam Ekhtiar and Marika Sardar, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Published October 2004; Internet Archive copy of 18 November 2025. Accessed 27 September 2026. Mihr Ali's dates and portrait cycles, and the life and academy of Kamal-ol-Molk.
13. Portrait of Fath 'Ali Shah Qajar. Qatar Museums, Museum of Islamic Art. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The date, size and attribution of the portrait, and the use of such portraits as diplomatic gifts.
14. GHAFFARI, ABU'L-HASAN KHAN. Basil William Robinson, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 1983, last updated 23 May 2018; Internet Archive copy of 2 July 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. Sani al-Molk's life, his teacher Mihr Ali, his time in Italy and the Arabian Nights of 1853.
15. KAMAL-AL-MOLK, MOHAMMAD GHAFFARI. Encyclopaedia Iranica. Internet Archive copy of 14 September 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. The description of Kamal-ol-Molk as a painter of the European academic style.
16. BEHZAD, HOSAYN. Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 1989; Internet Archive copy of 25 January 2025. Accessed 27 September 2026. Hossein Behzad's dates, training, copies sold as Safavid work, time in Paris and Omar Khayyam miniatures.
17. Celebrated Iranian master Mahmoud Farshchian passes away. Tehran Times. Published 9 August 2025. Accessed 27 September 2026. Farshchian's birth, training, teaching and the museum at Sadabad.
18. State funeral for miniature maestro rekindles debate on art and power in Iran. Iran International. Published 18 August 2025. Accessed 27 September 2026. Farshchian's date and place of death, his years in New Jersey, his burial in Isfahan and his subjects.
19. PILARAM, FARAMARZ. Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 1 August 2014; Internet Archive copy of 25 November 2025. Accessed 27 September 2026. Farshchian as a teacher of miniature painting at the School of Decorative Arts for Boys.
20. SEPEHRI, SOHRAB. Houman Sarshar, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 August 2009; Internet Archive copy of 7 February 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. Sepehri's dates, training, exhibitions, prize, desert gouaches and tree trunk series.
21. Kamal al-Din Ghotb. VanArtHub. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The gallery's description of his training and technique.
22. Mi'raj, Original Persian Miniature by Kamal al-Din Ghotb. VanArtHub. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The subject, year and figures of the painting.

Checked 27 September 2026. If something here is out of date, write to us and we will correct it.