The Qajar artist Abu Torab Ghaffari was well known for his paintings and lithographic drawings, being appointed to draw the leading men of the day's portraits in the Sharaf newspaper and doing so for about a decade before his death.
This painting demonstrates a building with notable Safavid architectural elements, despite many of the palaces and villas from the Safavid period being destroyed in Afghanistan's takeover of Isfahan in the early-18th century. These elements include the large courtyard that seems to be contained by the building's halls, which were often designed with much of the interior being one-story, with doors on the ground floor, but two-stories tall, with windows above the doors, as one can find in this painting. The Qajar period of art and architecture was greatly influenced by European tastes, which one could attribute to the columns present in this building. If not the columns, one could view the directly front-facing view of this building as a mirror to how many European-styled building drawings are viewed even to this day: with a clear demonstration of symmetry, perspective and a distinct compositional divide between the subject and the sky above it.
The painting alone, irrespective of its subject matter, is beautiful, using bright cerulean and teal-tinted blues to work harmoniously with the overwhelmingly warm tones of the building roof, brick and courtyard tiles. With all of the figures dressed in black and white or dark tones, they stand out effortlessly against the courtyard and this building, adding a sense of life without taking priority over the magnificence of the building. Even the trees only add to how the building is frame, creating an uneven and therefore more organic balance to the rigidity of the building.
Abu Torab Ghaffari shows the shifting times through this artwork. The palace is a clashing metaphor for the rift between designs at that time, some being traditional, and others being modern. Ghaffari shows that the two can co-exist to create a beautiful composition that mixes the Safavid styles with the European influences of columns and symmetry. The small figures and trees soften the hard lines of the palace. and the use of contrasts creates a balanced scene full of antithesis, much like the warm oranges of the setting sun create a perfect scene with blue, deep ocean.
