Al-Baghdādī
The Illuminated Scribe: Muḥibb Al-Dīn Ibn Al-Najjār and the Art of Biographical Lexicography Abū ʿabdallāh Muḥammad B. Maḥmūd B. Al-Ḥasan B. Hibatallāh B. Maḥāsin Al-Baghdādī, more widely known as Muḥibb Al-Dīn Ibn Al-Najjār, occupies a unique and vital position in the intellectual landscape of 14th-century Islam. He wasn’t a painter, sculptor, or architect in the traditional sense; his canvas was the page, his medium the meticulously crafted word. Ibn Al-Najjār stands as one of the most prolific and influential biographical lexicographers – compilers of dictionaries of notable individuals –…
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works mapped
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subjects
An Interactive Constellation
The Subject Atlas
A chart of Al-Baghdādī's corpus mapped not by date but by subject. Spokes are what they painted; rings are when; and the threads between stars reveal the patrons and places that secretly connect them.
Focus a Subject
Trace a Context
Spokes — Subject
Each arm of the atlas gathers works by what they depict: portraits, sacred scenes, mythologies, and the scientific studies. Click a spoke to swing that cluster to the top.
Rings — Career Period
Distance from the center marks time. The innermost ring is the earliest period; the outermost, the final years. Style matures as you move outward.
Threads — Shared Context
Coloured lines link works bound by the same patron, commission, or theme. Trace a context to watch related clusters light up across subjects.