Portraits Archive

Geometric shaped interior in the Jameh Mosque in Isfahan.

portraits

Mullā Ṣadrā, Islam’s greatest modern philosopher

Despite being widely considered the greatest philosopher in modern Islamic thought, the Persian ‘theosopher’ Mullā Ṣadrā (1571-1635), who flourished under the Safavid dynasty, rema..

Josh Mcloughlin May 31, 2024

portraits

Keith Murdoch, the patriarch

Decades before Rupert Murdoch ruled his news empire, his father, Keith Murdoch, was recognised and feared as a media and political powerbroker.

Michael Crick May 15, 2024

Wenceslas Hollar's map of England with scenes from the beginning of the Civil War.

portraits

Henry Stubbe, early modern champion of ‘Mahometan Christianity’

Henry Stubbe, one of the leading classical scholars of the 17th century, associate of Thomas Hobbes and a radical republican, saw Islam as the ultimate Puritan religion.

Paul Lay April 29, 2024

portraits

Isabella Whitney, England’s first female professional writer

Isabella Whitney is remarkable as a pioneer woman writer, and her poems are finally beginning to gain traction.

Emma Smith April 15, 2024

portraits

Sigmar Hillelson — the German Jewish pioneer behind the BBC’s Arabic broadcasts

Sigmar Hillelson, the German Jewish Orientalist who led the BBC’s Near Eastern Service between 1940 and 1945, played a crucial role in establishing Arabic broadcasting as a source ..

Alex White February 27, 2024

Portrait of Carlo Porta - an Italian poet who wrote in Milanese dialect.

portraits

Carlo Porta, poet who defended Milan’s dispossessed

The poet Carlo Porta gave the Milanese voice in their native tongue, fiercely rejecting the popular notion that good writing could only be done in Italian.

Andrea Valentino February 15, 2024

portraits

The dialects of Joseph Wright

Joseph Wright, author of the six-volume English Dialect Dictionary, and one of the 19th century's most remarkable examples of social mobility, only learned to read at 15. He left a..

Sarah Ogilvie January 29, 2024

The Nazi congress at Nuremberg, 1938. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo.

portraits

Peter Viereck: Psychoanalyst of Nazism

Motivated by a wish to understand his own father's affinity for the Nazis, historian Peter Viereck argued that Hitler was the culmination of an intellectual trend in German thought..

Samuel Rubinstein January 10, 2024

portraits

Daniel Patrick Moynihan: Warrior of the liberal centre

Over his long career as a scholar, presidential adviser and senator, Daniel Patrick Moynihan an was avid practitioner of liberal centrism against the threat of expanding government..

Jeffery Tyler Syck January 8, 2024