Franz Colombari was an Italian officer and painter who served at the Qajar Iranian court and in the army between 1833 and 1848.
Biography
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Colombari was an engineer and watercolour artist, and originally hailed from Piedmont.[1] In 1833, after gaining the rank of colonel, he moved to Qajar Iran.[2] While in Iran, he served in the army between 1833-1848, and also belonged to a circle of artists close to the young crown prince Naser al-Din Shah Qajar. Colombari himself, in particular, was a close confidant of the latter.
During the tenure of prime minister Haji Mirza Aqasi, Colombari assisted him in reorganizing the army and the production of weapons at the Tehran arsenal.[3] Colombari made numerous paintings and may have personally known Hasan Ghaffari, better known as Sani ol molk. In 1844, Colombari made a watercolour painting of Naser ad-din Shah Qajar. In 1847, he made a watercolour portrait of Mohammad Shah Qajar, the successor to Naser ad-din Shah on the throne.
References
edit- ^ Cronin, Stephanie. "ARMY iv a. Qajar Period". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
- ^ Modares, Mahshid. "European Artists in Iran During the Qajar Period". Caroun. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
- ^ Cronin, Stephanie. "ARMY iv a. Qajar Period". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
Sources
edit- Fuess, Albrecht; Hartung, Jan-Peter (2014). Court Cultures in the Muslim World: Seventh to Nineteenth Centuries. Routledge. p. 412. ISBN 978-1136917806.
Further reading
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- M. M. Eskandari-Qajar, “Mohammad Shah Qajar’s Nezam-e Jadid and Colonel Colombari’s Zambourakchis,” Qajar Studies 5, 2005, pp. 52–79.
- L. Thornton, Images de Perse: Le voyage du Colonel F. Colombari à la cour du Chah de Perse de 1833 à 1848, Paris, 1981.