March 2016

Aziz
Art
March 2016
Aydin Aghdashloo
Raphael
Norwruz Festival

1.Aydin Aghdashloo
5. Raffaello
14. Nowruz
Director: AzizAnzabi
Editor and translator :
Asra Yaghoubi
Research: Zohreh Nazari
http://www.aziz-anzabi.com

Aydin Aghdashloo born October
30, 1940 is an Iranian painter,
author, art critic, art historian and
graphic designer.
He currently lives in Tehran, Iran,
and lectures in different Iranian
Universities besides his professional
work.
Early life
Aydin Aghdashloo was born in
Rasht, Iran. His father, Mammad
Aghdashloo (born Mammad Hajiev)
was an engineer and the Labour
Minister in Azerbaijan Democratic
Republic between 1919 and 1920.
After the invasion of Azerbaijan by
the Soviet Red Army in 1920, he
and his wife Nahida, Aydin's
mother, had to flee Baku,
Azerbaijan, and take refuge in
Tabriz, Iran. To avoid identification
by the Soviet spies in Iran,
Mammad changed his last name
from Hajiev to Aghdashloo and
later moved to Rasht, where Aydin
was born, and finally to Tehran
when Aghdashloo was 5 years old.
Aydin Aghdashloo started selling his
paintings from the age of 14, two
years after his father's death as a
result of kidney complications.
Shah's era
Aghdashloo was appointed by the
Shahbanu (Empress) of Iran, Farah
Pahlavi, as the "Head of Artistic
Affairs of Shahbanu's Special
Bureau". His responsibilities
included purchase of artworks from
contemporary artists such as Andy
Warhol, Pablo Picasso and Claude
Monet for the Tehran Museum of
Contemporary Art. He also helped
establish the Reza Abbasi Museum
in Tehran in 1977 and was the head
of the museum until 1979.
He married his first wife, Iranian
actress Shohreh Vaziri-Tabar, aka
Shohreh Aghdashloo, in 1971. They
divorced in 1979.
1

After the Iranian revolution of
1979, Aghdashloo lost both his
official jobs and was under threat
by Khomeini's regime and was
barred from leaving Iran for over 10
years, until 1989.
Aghdashloo had to adjust himself
to the new strict rules imposed by
the government to control and
Islamicize arts and culture. Before
being allowed to teach in Iranian
universities in 1981, he started his
private art classes which he still
continues to teach, beside lecturing
in a number of universities in
Iran.He was also the first artist to
exhibit his artwork at Tehran's
Assar Art Gallery in the late 1990s.
He married Firouzeh Athari in 1981
from which they have a son and a
daughter.
Paintings
Early in his career, Aghdashloo
took great interest in the
Renaissance and
Sandro Botticelli's paintings in
particular. He even used to test his
own skills by copying Botticelli's
works to the last detail. His
admiration for Renaissance
paintings lead to the creation of
his "Memories of Destruction“
series in the early 1970s which
became his
most celebrated and famous
series.In these series Aghdashloo
depicts destruction of identity and
beauty by painting a complete
Renaissance masterpiece and then
partially destroy or deface it.
"Memories of Destruction"
continued after 1979 but went
through a transformation in which
Islamic art became his main model
instead of Renaissance art, while in
both periods he uses Islamic and
Renaissance models
simultaneously.
He also uses Persian miniatures
extensively in his paintings after
1979. The crumpled Persian
miniature series are the best
example.
Other
Besides painting, Aghdashloo is an
expert in Iranian pre-Islamic and
Islamic art history and artifacts. He
assesses items for auction houses
such as Christie's and Sotheby's.
Aghdashloo has published eight
books; three articles collections,
two paintings collections and two
researches in Iranian art history.
He has been teaching art and art
history in a number of universities
in Iran since 1981.

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino April 6
or March 28, 1483 – April 6,
1520),known as Raphael was an
Italian painter and architect of the
High Renaissance. His work is
admired for its clarity of form, ease
of composition, and visual
achievement of the Neoplatonic
ideal of human grandeur. Together
with Michelangelo and Leonardo
da Vinci, he forms the traditional
trinity of great masters of that
period.
Raphael was enormously
productive, running an unusually
large workshop and, despite his
death at 37, leaving a large body
of work. Many of his works are
found in the Vatican Palace, where
the frescoes Raphael Rooms were
the central, and the largest, work
of his career. The best known
work is The School of Athens in the
Vatican Stanza della Segnatura.
After his early years in Rome much
of his work was executed by his
workshop from his drawings, with
considerable loss of quality. He was
extremely influential in his
lifetime, though outside Rome his
work was mostly known from his
collaborative printmaking.
After his death, the influence of his
great rival Michelangelo was more
widespread until the 18th and 19th
centuries, when Raphael's more
serene and harmonious qualities
were again regarded as the highest
models. His career falls naturally
into three phases and three styles,
first described by Giorgio Vasari: his
early years in Umbria, then a period
of about four years (1504–1508)
absorbing the artistic traditions of
Florence, followed by his last hectic
and triumphant twelve years in
Rome, working for two Popes and
their close associates.
Early life and work
His mother Màgia died in 1491
when Raphael was eight, followed
on August 1, 1494 by his father,
who had already remarried.
Raphael was thus orphaned at
eleven; his formal guardian became
his only paternal uncle Bartolomeo,
a priest, who subsequently
engaged in litigation with his
stepmother. He probably continued
to live with his stepmother when
not staying as an apprentice with a
master. He had already shown
talent, according to Vasari, who
says that Raphael had been "a great
help to his father".
5

A brilliant self-portrait drawing
from his teenage years shows his
precocious talent.His father's
workshop continued and, probably
together with his stepmother,
Raphael evidently played a part in
managing it from a very early age.
In Urbino, he came into contact
with the works of Paolo Uccello,
previously the court painter (d.
1475), and Luca Signorelli, who
until 1498 was based in nearby
Città di Castello.
According to Vasari, his father
placed him in the workshop of the
Umbrian master Pietro Perugino as
an apprentice "despite the tears of
his mother".
The evidence of an apprenticeship
comes only from Vasari and
another source,and has been
disputed—eight was very early for
an apprenticeship to begin. An
alternative theory is that he
received at least some training
from Timoteo Viti, who acted as
court painter in Urbino from
1495.But most modern historians
agree that Raphael at least worked
as an assistant to Perugino from
around 1500; the influence of
Perugino on Raphael's early work is
very clear: "probably no other pupil
of genius has ever absorbed so
much of his master's teaching as
Raphael did", according to
Wölfflin.Vasari wrote that it was
impossible to distinguish between
their hands at this period, but many
modern art historians claim to do
better and detect his hand in
specific areas of works by Perugino
or his workshop. Apart from
stylistic closeness, their techniques
are very similar as well, for example
having paint applied thickly, using
an oil varnish medium, in shadows
and darker garments, but very
thinly on flesh areas. An excess of
resin in the varnish often causes
cracking of areas of paint in the
works of both masters.The Perugino
workshop was active in both
Perugia and Florence, perhaps
maintaining two permanent
branches. Raphael is described as a
"master", that is to say fully
trained, in December 1500.

His first documented work was the
Baronci altarpiece for the church
of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino in
Città di Castello, a town halfway
between Perugia and Urbino.
Evangelista da Pian di Meleto,
who had worked for his father, was
also named in the commission. It
was commissioned in 1500 and
finished in 1501; now only some
cut sections and a preparatory
drawing remain. In the following
years he painted works for other
churches there, including the
Mond Crucifixion (about 1503)
and the Brera Wedding of the
Virgin (1504), and for Perugia,
such as the Oddi Altarpiece. He
very probably also visited Florence
in this period. These are large
works, some in fresco, where
Raphael confidently marshals his
compositions in the somewhat
static style of Perugino. He also
painted many small and exquisite
cabinet paintings in these years,
probably mostly for the
connoisseurs in the Urbino court,
like the Three Graces and St.
Michael, and he began to paint
Madonnas and portraits. In 1502
he went to Siena at the invitation
of another pupil of Perugino,
Pinturicchio, "being a friend of
Raphael and knowing him to be a
draughtsman of the highest
quality" to help with the cartoons,
and very likely the designs, for a
fresco series in the Piccolomini
Library in Siena Cathedral. He was
evidently already much in demand
even at this early stage in his
career.
Workshop
Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke
of Urbino from 1482-1508, c.1507
Vasari says that Raphael eventually
had a workshop of fifty pupils and
assistants, many of whom later
became significant artists in their
own right. This was arguably the
largest workshop team assembled
under any single old master painter,
and much higher than the norm.
They included established masters
from other parts of Italy, probably
working with their own teams as
sub-contractors, as well as pupils
and journeymen. We have very
little evidence of the internal
working arrangements of the
workshop, apart from the works of
art themselves, often very difficult
to assign to a particular hand.

The most important figures were
Giulio Romano, a young pupil from
Rome (only about twenty-one at
Raphael's death), and
Gianfrancesco Penni, already a
Florentine master. They were left
many of Raphael's drawings and
other possessions, and to some
extent continued the workshop
after Raphael's death. Penni
did not achieve a personal
reputation equal to Giulio's, as
after Raphael's death he became
Giulio's less-than-equal
collaborator in turn for much of his
subsequent career.
Perino del Vaga, already a master,
and Polidoro da Caravaggio, who
was supposedly promoted from a
labourer carrying building
materials on the site, also became
notable painters in their own right.
Polidoro's partner, Maturino da
Firenze, has, like Penni, been
overshadowed in subsequent
reputation by his partner. Giovanni
da Udine had a more independent
status, and was responsible for the
decorative stucco work and
grotesques surrounding the main
frescoes.Most of the artists were
later scattered, and some killed, by
the violent Sack of Rome in 1527.
This did however contribute to the
diffusion of versions of Raphael's
style around Italy and beyond.
Vasari emphasises that Raphael ran
a very harmonious and efficient
workshop, and had extraordinary
skill in smoothing over troubles and
arguments with both patrons and
his assistants—a contrast with the
stormy pattern of Michelangelo's
relationships with both. However
though both Penni and Giulio were
sufficiently skilled that
distinguishing between their hands
and that of Raphael himself is still
sometimes difficult,there is no
doubt that many of Raphael's later
wall-paintings, and probably some
of his easel paintings, are more
notable for their design than their
execution. Many of his portraits, if
in good condition, show his
brilliance in the detailed handling
of paint right up to the end of his
life.
Other pupils or assistants include
Raffaellino del Colle, Andrea
Sabbatini, Bartolommeo Ramenghi,
Pellegrino Aretusi, Vincenzo
Tamagni, Battista Dossi, Tommaso
Vincidor,

Timoteo Viti (the Urbino painter),
and the sculptor and architect
Lorenzetto (Giulio's brother-in-law).
The printmakers and architects in
Raphael's circle are discussed
below. It has been claimed the
Flemish Bernard van Orley worked
for Raphael for a time, and Luca
Penni, brother of Gianfrancesco,
may have been a member of the
team.
Drawings
Raphael was one of the finest
craftsmen in the history of
Western art, and used drawings
extensively to plan his
compositions. According to a nearcontemporary,
when beginning to
plan a composition, he would lay
out a large number of stock
drawings of his on the floor, and
begin to draw "rapidly", borrowing
figures from here and there.Over
forty sketches survive for the
Disputa in the Stanze, and there
may well have been many more
originally; over four hundred
sheets survive altogether.
He used different drawings to
refine his poses and compositions,
apparently to a greater extent
than most other painters, to judge
by the number of variants that
survive: "... This is how Raphael
himself, who was so rich in
inventiveness, used to work, always
coming up with four or six ways to
show a narrative, each one
different from the rest, and all of
them full of grace and well done."
wrote another writer after his
death. For John Shearman,
Raphael's art marks "a shift of
resources away from production to
research and development".
When a final composition was
achieved, scaled-up full-size
cartoons were often made, which
were then pricked with a pin and
"pounced" with a bag of soot to
leave dotted lines on the surface as
a guide. He also made unusually
extensive use, on both paper and
plaster, of a "blind stylus",
scratching lines which leave only an
indentation, but no mark. These
can be seen on the wall in The
School of Athens, and in the
originals of many drawings.The
"Raphael Cartoons", as tapestry
designs, were fully coloured in a
glue distemper medium, as they
were sent to Brussels to be
followed by the weavers.

In later works painted by the
workshop, the drawings are often
painfully more attractive than the
paintings. Most Raphael drawings
are rather precise—even initial
sketches with naked outline figures
are carefully drawn, and later
working drawings often have a high
degree of finish, with shading and
sometimes highlights in white. They
lack the freedom and energy of
some of Leonardo's and
Michelangelo's sketches, but are
nearly always aesthetically very
satisfying. He was one of the last
artists to use metalpoint (literally a
sharp pointed piece of silver or
another metal) extensively,
although he also made superb use
of the freer medium of red or black
chalk.In his final years he was one
of the first artists to use female
models for preparatory drawings—
male pupils ("garzoni") were
normally used for studies of both
sexes.

Nowruz

Nowruz ( "New Day") is the name
of the Iranian New Year,
also known as the Persian and
Kurdish New Year, is celebrated by
Iranian peoples worldwide as the
beginning of the new year. It has
been celebrated for over 3,000
years in the Balkans, the Black Sea
Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia,
and the Middle East.It marks the
first day of the month of Farvardin
in the Iranian calendar.
Nowruz is the day of the
astronomical vernal equinox (or
northward equinox), which marks
the beginning of the spring in the
northern hemisphere and usually
occurs on March 21 or the
previous/following day depending
on where it is observed. The
moment the sun crosses the
celestial equator and equalizes
night and day is calculated exactly
every year and families gather
together to observe the rituals.
Although having Persian and
religious Zoroastrian origins,
Nowruz has been celebrated by
people from diverse ethnic
communities and religious
backgrounds for thousands of
years. It is a secular holiday for
most celebrants that is enjoyed by
people of several different faiths,
but remains a holy day for
Zoroastrians.
Origin
Nowruz is partly rooted in the
religious tradition of Iranian
religions such as Zoroastrianism or
even older in tradition of Mitraism
because in Mitraism festivals had a
deep linkage with the sun light. The
Persian festivals of Yalda (longest
night) and Mehregan (autumnal
equinox) and Tiregān (longest day)
also had an origin in the Sun god
(Surya). Among other ideas,
Zoroastrianism is the first
monotheistic religion that
emphasizes broad concepts such as
the corresponding work of good
and evil in the world, and the
connection of humans to nature.
Zoroastrian practices were
dominant for much of the history of
ancient Persia (modern day Iran &
Western Afghanistan).
14

Nowruz is believed to have been Ancient Iran. Due to its antiquity,
invented by Zoroaster himself in there exist various foundation
Balkh (modern-day Afghanistan), myths for Nowruz in Iranian
although there is no clear date of mythology. In the Zoroastrian
origin. Since the Achaemenid era tradition, the seven most important
the official year has begun with the Zoroastrian festivals are the
New Day when the Sun leaves the Gahambars and Nowruz, which
zodiac of Pisces and enters the occurs at the spring equinox.
zodiacal sign of Aries, signifying the According to Mary Boyce,
Spring Equinox. Nowruz is also a “It seems a reasonable surmise that
holy day for Sufi Muslims, Nowruz, the holiest of them all,
Bektashis, Ismailis, Alawites,Alevis, with deep doctrinal significance,
Babis and adherents of the Bahá'í was founded by Zoroaster
Faith.
himself.Between sunset on the day
The term Nowruz in writing first of the 6th Gahanbar and sunrise of
appeared in historical Persian Nowruz, Hamaspathmaedaya (later
records in the 2nd century CE, but known, in its extended form, as
it was also an important day during Frawardinegan) was celebrated.
the time of the Achaemenids (c. This and the Gahanbar are the only
550–330 BCE), where kings from festivals named in the surviving text
different nations under the Persian of the Avesta.
Empire used to bring gifts to the The Shahnameh dates Nowruz as
Emperor, also called King of Kings far back to the reign of Jamshid,
(Shahanshah), of Persia on Nowruz. who in Zoroastrian texts saved
The significance of Nowruz in the mankind from a killer winter that
Achaemenid Empire was such that was destined to kill every living
the great Persian king
creature. The mythical Persian King
Cambyses II's appointment as the Jamshid (Yima or Yama of the Indoking
of Babylon was legitimized Iranian lore) perhaps symbolizes
only after his participation in the the transition of the Indo-Iranians
New Year festival
from animal hunting to animal
History and tradition
husbandry and a more settled life
The celebration has its roots in in human history

In the Shahnameh and Iranian first day when the universe started
mythology, he is credited with the its motion.The Persian historian
foundation of Nowruz. In the Abu Saʿīd Gardēzī in his work titled
Shahnama, Jamshid constructed a Zayn al-Akhbār under the section of
throne studded with gems. He had the Zoroastrians festivals mentions
demons raise him above the earth Nowruz (among other festivals) and
into the heavens; there he sat on specifically points out that
his throne like the sun shining in Zoroaster highly emphasized the
the sky. The world's creatures celebration of Nowruz and
gathered in wonder about him Mehregan.
and scattered jewels around him, History
and called this day the New Day or Nowruz in Persia
No/Now-Ruz. This was the first day Persepolis all nations staircase.
of the month of Farvardin (the first Notice the people from across the
month of the Persian calendar). Achaemenid Persian Empire
The Persian scholar Abu Rayhan bringing gifts. Some scholars have
Biruni of the 10th century CE, in his associated the occasion to be
Persian work "Kitab al-Tafhim li either Mehregan or Nowruz.
Awa'il Sina'at al-Tanjim" provides a Shah Tahmasp I and Humayun
description of the calendar of celebrating Nowvruz festival, 16th
various nations. Besides
century, Isfahan, Persia
the Persian calendar, various Although it is not clear whether
festivals of Arabs, Jews, Sabians, proto-Indo-Iranians celebrated a
Greeks and other nations are feast as the first day of the
mentioned in this book. In the calendar, there are indications that
section on the Persian calendar , both Iranians and Indians may have
he mentions Nowruz, Sadeh, observed the beginning of both
Tiregan, Mehregan, the six autumn and spring, related to the
Gahanbar, Parvardegaan, harvest and the sowing of seeds,
Bahmanja, Isfandarmazh and respectively, for the celebration of
several other festivals.
new year.
According to him: It is the belief of
the Persians that Nowruz marks the

Boyce and Grenet explain the Hall,
traditions for seasonal festivals and were built for the specific purpose
comment: "It is possible that the of celebrating Nowruz. Although
splendor of the Babylonian there may be no mention of
festivities at this season led the Nowruz in recorded Achaemenid
Persians to develop their own inscriptions (see picture),there is a
spring festival into an established detailed account by Xenophon of a
new year feast, with the name Nowruz celebration taking place in
Navasarda 'New Year' (a name Persepolis and the continuity of this
which, though first attested festival in the Achaemenid
through Middle Persian
tradition.in 539 BC the Jews came
derivatives, is attributed to the under Persian rule thus exposing
Achaemenian period). Since the both groups to each other's
communal observations of the customs. According to
ancient Iranians appear in general Encyclopædia Britannica, the story
to have been a seasonal ones, and of Purim as told in the Book of
related to agriculture, it is Esther is adapted from a Persian
probable, that they traditionally novella about the shrewdness of
held festivals in both autumn and harem queens suggesting that
spring, to mark the major turning Purim may be a transformation of
points of the natural year". the Persian New Year. A specific
We have reasons to believe that novella is not identified and
the celebration is much older than Encyclopædia Britannica itself
that date and was surely
notes that "no Jewish texts of this
celebrated by the people and genre from the Persian period are
royalty during the Achaemenid extant, so these new elements can
times (555–330 BC). It was, be recognized only inferentially".
therefore, a highly auspicious The Encyclopaedia of Religion and
occasion for the ancient Iranian Ethics notes that the Purim holiday
peoples. It has been suggested is based on a lunar calendar while
that the famous Persepolis Nowruz occurs at the spring
complex, or at least the palace of equinox (solar calendar).
Apadana and the Hundred Columns

The two holidays are therefore
celebrated on different dates but
within a few weeks of each other,
depending on the year. Both
holidays are joyous celebrations.
Given their temporal associations,
it is possible that the Jews and
Persians of the time may have
shared or adopted similar customs
for these holidays. The story of
Purim as told in the Book of Esther
has been dated anywhere from
625–465 BC (although the story
takes place with the Jews under
the rule of the Achaemenid
Empire and the Jews had come
under Persian rule in 539 BC),
while Nowruz is thought to have
first been celebrated between
555–330 BC. It remains unclear
which holiday was established
first.
Nowruz was the holiday of
Arsacid/Parthian dynastic Empires
who ruled Iran (248 BC-224 CE)
and the other areas ruled by the
Arsacid dynasties outside Parthia
(such as the Arsacid dynasty of
Armenia and Iberia). There are
specific references to the
celebration of Nowruz during the
reign of Vologases I (51–78 CE), but
these include no details.Before
Sassanids established their power
in West Asia around 300 CE,
Parthians celebrated Nowruz in
Autumn and 1st of Farvardin began
at the Autumn Equinox. During
Parthian dynasty the Spring Festival
was Mehragan, a Zoroastrian and
Iranian festival celebrated in honor
of Mithra.
Extensive records on the
celebration of Nowruz appear
following the accession of Ardashir
I of Persia, the founder of the
Sassanid dynasty (224–651 CE).
Under the Sassanid Emperors,
Nowruz was celebrated as the most
important day of the year. Most
royal traditions of Nowruz such as
royal audiences with the public,
cash gifts, and the pardoning of
prisoners, were established during
the Sassanian era and persisted
unchanged until modern times.
Nowruz, along with Sadeh
(celebrated in mid-winter), survived
in society following the
introduction of Islam in 650 CE.
Other celebrations such Gahanbar
and Mehragan were eventually
side-lined or were only followed by
the Zoroastrians, who carried them.
It was adopted as the main royal
holiday during the Abbasid period.

In the book Nowruznama drink immortality from the Cup of
("Book of the New Year", which is Jamshid; and keep in solemn trust
attributed to Omar Khayyam, the customs of our ancestors, their
a well known Persian poet and noble aspirations, fair gestures and
mathematician),
the exercise of justice and
a vivid description of the
righteousness. May thy soul
celebration in the courts of the flourish; may thy youth be as the
Kings of Persia is provided: new-grown grain; may thy horse be
“From the era of Kai Khusraw till puissant, victorious; thy sword
the days of Yazdegard, last of the bright and deadly against foes; thy
pre-Islamic kings of Persia, the hawk swift against its prey; thy
royal custom was thus: on the every act straight as the arrow's
first day of the New Year, shaft. Go forth from thy rich
Now Ruz, the King's first visitor throne, conquer new lands. Honor
was the High Mobad of the the craftsman and the sage in equal
Zoroastrians, who brought with degree; disdain the acquisition of
him as gifts a golden goblet full of wealth. May thy house prosper and
wine, a ring, some gold coins, a thy life be long!"
fistful of green sprigs of wheat, a Following the demise of the
sword, and a bow. In the language Caliphate and the subsequent reemergence
of Persian dynasties
of Persia he would then glorify God
and praise the monarch. This was such as the Samanids and Buyids,
the address of the High Mobad to Nowruz was elevated to an even
the king : "O Majesty, on this feast more important event. The Buyids
of the Equinox, first day of the first revived the ancient traditions of
month of the year, seeing that thou Sassanian times and restored many
hast freely chosen God and the smaller celebrations that had been
Faith of the Ancient ones; may eliminated by the Caliphate.
Surush, the Angel-messenger, According to the Syrian historian
grant thee wisdom and insight Yaqut al-Hamawi, the Iranian Buyid
and sagacity in thy affairs. ruler ʿAżod-od-Dawla (r. 949-83)
Live long in praise, be happy and customarily welcomed Nowruz in a
fortunate upon thy golden throne, majestic hall,

wherein servants had placed gold
and silver plates and vases full of
fruit and colorful flowers.The King
would sit on the royal throne
(masnad), and the court
astronomer came forward, kissed
the ground, and congratulated him
on the arrival of the New Year. The
king would then summon
musicians and singers, and invited
his boon companions. They would
gather in their assigned places and
enjoy a great festive occasion.
Even the Turkic and Mongol
invaders did not attempt to abolish
Nowruz in favor of any other
celebration. Thus, Nowruz
remained as the main celebration
in the Persian lands by both the
officials and the people.

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