Mirza Kadym Irevani ( az, Mirzə Qədim İrəvani, میرزا قدیم ایروانی) was an Azerbaijani ornamentalist artist and

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

ist, who mostly created "typical

Persian miniature A Persian miniature (Persian: نگارگری ایرانی ''negârgari Irâni'') is a small Persian painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a ''muraqqa''. The ...

s and

lacquer Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be ca ...

s", founder of Azerbaijani

panel painting A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not paint ...

, whose works greatly influenced Azerbaijani

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts ...

of the modern period. Mirza Kadym Irevani is famous for his drawings and miniature paintings. In the 1850s, he was commissioned by the

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

to repaint the interior of the Erivan Sardar's Palace, which had originally been painted by a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

artist in 1815. He also painted 4 big (1 м X 2 м) portraits for the Sardar's Palace.Эривани / Под ред. Б. В. Иогансона. — Искусство стран и народов мира (краткая художественная энциклопедия): Советская энциклопедия, 1962. — P. 61. Mirza Kadym Erivani's works are kept in the

National Art Museum of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan National Museum of Art ( az, Azərbaycan Milli İncəsənət Muzeyi) is the biggest art museum of Azerbaijan. It was founded in 1936 in Baku and in 1943 was named after Rustam Mustafayev, a prominent Azerbaijani scenic designer and thea ...

, the

Art Museum of Georgia The Art Museum of Georgia (AMG) ( ka, საქართველოს ხელოვნების მუზეუმი, ''sak'art'velos khelovnebis muzeumi''), alternatively known as Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts, is one of the l ...

, and the Hermitage.

Biography

Mirza Kadym Irevani was born in 1825, in the city of Erivan in

Qajar Iran Qajar Iran (), also referred to as Qajar Persia, the Qajar Empire, '. Sublime State of Persia, officially the Sublime State of Iran ( fa, دولت علیّه ایران ') and also known then as the Guarded Domains of Iran ( fa, ممالک م ...

during the tenure of the last Iranian governor of the Erivan Khanate,

Hossein Khan Sardar Hossein Qoli Khan Sardar Qajar ( fa, حسین قلی خان سردار قاجار), better simply known as Hossein Khan Sardar () (born ca. 1742 – died 1831) was an Iranian statesman in Qajar Iran, who was the last governor of the Erivan Khanate ...

, and belonged to a "family of professional decorators". During Hossein Khan's capable governorship, Erivan prospered; the Sardar's Palace became decorated with mirrors,

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

s, and fourteen paintings. The paintings depicted four heroes from the Iranian ''

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,00 ...

'' epic, including

Rostam use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kabulistan , death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a wel ...

and

Sohrab use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Turan , death_cause = Killed in combat by his father, Rostam, with neither Rostam nor Sohrab awa ...

, as well as contemporary Iranian notables; king

Fath-Ali Shah Qajar Fath-Ali Shah Qajar ( fa, فتحعلى‌شاه قاجار, Fatḥ-ʻAli Šâh Qâjâr; May 1769 – 24 October 1834) was the second Shah (king) of Qajar Iran. He reigned from 17 June 1797 until his death on 24 October 1834. His reign saw the irr ...

(1797–1834),

Abbas Mirza Abbas Mirza ( fa, عباس میرزا; August 26, 1789October 25, 1833) was a Qajar crown prince of Iran. He developed a reputation as a military commander during the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813 and the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, as ...

, Hossein Khan Sardar, and his brother Hasan Khan Qajar. Other paintings included two hunting and battle scenes. All fourteen paintings were originally painted in 1815 by a

painter named ʿAbd al-Rāziq. At the decisive siege of Erivan of 1827, during the Russo-Persian War of 1826-1828, the Russian artillery gravely damaged the Sardar's Palace. After the Iranians were forced to cede Erivan to the Russians per the

Treaty of Turkmenchay The Treaty of Turkmenchay ( fa, عهدنامه ترکمنچای; russian: Туркманчайский договор) was an agreement between Qajar Iran and the Russian Empire, which concluded the Russo-Persian War (1826–28). It was second o ...

of 1828, the Erivan Sardar's palace was neglected by the Russians, and thus fell in ruins. A few decades later, in 1850, when

Orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

came in vogue, the Russians decided to rebuild the palace. The Russians commissioned Mirza Kadym Irevani to repaint the interior of the palace. Thus; "all historical figures depicted on the walls of the palace were from 30-40 years earlier than the time of Mirza Kadym Irevani". Mirza Kadym Irevani's oeuvre consists mostly of "typical

s and

s". He also created some "monumental and

easel painting An easel is an upright support used for displaying and/or fixing something resting upon it, at an angle of about 20° to the vertical. In particular, easels are traditionally used by painters to support a painting while they work on it, normally ...

s with figurative motives", but they are considered to be of lesser aesthetic quality. In relation to his oeuvre, Associate Professor Irina Koshoridze adds: Mirza Kadym Irevani's paintings of the Sardar's Palace, as well as "a few of his oil paintings" are kept in the

. Some of his other works are kept in the Hermitage in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Five paintings (Rostam, Sohrab, Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, Hossein Khan Sardar, and Hasan Khan Qajar) were moved to Georgia after the Russians demolished the Palace in 1914, and are kept in the Oriental arts department of the

Gallery

File:Portrait of young man by Irevani.jpg, "Portrait of young man". The middle of the 19th century. Baku,

File:Mirza Qadim Irevani. Azerbaijan. Portrait of Fatali Shah.png, Portrait of Fatali Shah. Baku,

File:Mirzə Qədim İrəvani - Bülbül və qızılgül kolu.jpg, "Roses and Nightingales." Baku,

File:Portrait of sitting woman by Irevani.jpg, "Portrait of sitting woman", Tempera, 1870s, Baku,

Notes

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Irevani, Mirza Kadym Azerbaijani portrait painters Armenian Azerbaijanis Artists from Yerevan Iranian Azerbaijanis Iranian painters 1825 births 1875 deaths 19th-century Azerbaijani painters