Calligraphist (B. 1770, Istanbul, D. 23rd
June 1849, Istanbul). His full name was Yesarizâde Mustafa İzzet Efendi. He was
the son of Yesari Mehmed Esad, the pioneer of Turkish nastalīq. He was named as
“Yesari” because he was writing very aesthetically with his left arm because of
the disability of his right arm. Later, his family used this name. İzzet Efendi
was trained by his father and received the permission from calligraphist Osman
el-Üveysi Efendi (1789). Besides, he had a third diploma which had one thousand
pages and was approved by five
calligraphists.
Mustafa İzzet was a kazasker (T.N. military
judge) of Anatolia in 1839 and was appointed to Takvimhane-i Âmire (T.N. the
Imperial Printing House) in 1842. He created his own letters of Nastalīq and
printed his first book with them. In 1846, he was appointed as the kazasker of
Rumelia. Upon his death, he was buried in Fatih, next to his father’s grave.
Mustafa İzzet, who gained fame in his young ages, used his father’s
style in his writings at first. After his father’s death, he established his
own style by imposing his understandings into Nastalīq in the 1800s. He
composed his best works after 1844. Most of the calligraphy on buildings
constructed during the reign of Mahmud II belonged to him. Epigraphs of Nusteriye
Mosque and Public Fountain, Mausoleum of Mahmud II, Gates of Sublime Porte (T.N.
house of government of the Ottoman Empire), Alay Mansion, Hidayet Mosque are
one of those. His most famous students were Kıbrısîzade İsmail Hakkı Efendi
(1785-1862), Ali Haydar Bey (1802-70), Kazasker Mustafa İzzet and Abdülfettah
Efendi (1815-96).
