Oil on Canvas Portrait of a Lady by Reza Samimi 1919-1991

Oil on Canvas Portrait of a Lady by Reza Samimi 1919-1991.
Signed to the upper right.

Reza Samimi was an Iranian painter born at Meshed, Persia, in 1919. He was commissioned by the Shah of Persia on many occasions to paint family members. He worked in oils and in a variety of styles including portraiture, landscape, still life, flowers and even tasteful nudity. It is said his style was influenced both by the early Iranian miniaturists as well as by Rembrandt and Wright of Derby.

Samimi took up portrait painting in his twenties and at the age of 28 had his first important commission, a portrait of Princess Chamas, sister of the Shah of Persia. He was subsequently commissioned to undertake a second portrait, that of the Shah's wife, the Empress Farah Diba Pahlavi herself. But come the Iranian revolution, Samimi was perceived as too close to the "ancien regime" and had to leave the country.

But he continued to paint the portraits of important people including Heads of State. One notable portrait was that of President Eisenhower of the USA. During his working lifetime Reza Samimi had many successful exhibitions of his work in Britain and overseas, and his works are in public and private collections all over the world.