[3][4][5][6] Behzād's fame and renown in his lifetime inspired many during, and after, his life to copy his style and works due to the wide praise they received.

[9][10] He was born and lived most of his life in Herat, a city in modern-day western Afghanistan and an important center of trade and the Timurid Empire's cultural and economic capital.

[11] Not much is known of Behzad's childhood, but according to the author Qadi Ahmad, Behzād was orphaned at an early age and raised by the prominent painter and calligrapher Mirak Naqqash, a director of the Timurid royal library.

[12][13][14] Behzād was also a protégé of Mir Ali-Shir Nava'i, a vizier, poet, and humanist, and the in the court of Herat during the reign of Timurid Sultan Husayn Bayqara (ruled 1469–1506).

[15] In several manuscripts issued in the 1480s in the Sultan Hussein Bayqarah's kitabkhana (library), Behzad's participation is seen, which evidences his work in the court in the period.

[17] In 1506, Sultan Hussein Bayqarah died, and a month after his death, Herat was captured by the troops of the Bukhara Khanate, led by Mohammed Shaybani Khan.

A fable states that during the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, in which the Ottoman Turks defeated the Iranian army, Shah Ismail I hid Behzād in a cave as a treasure.

[22] Behzād is the most famous of Persian miniature painters, though he is more accurately understood as the director of a workshop (or kitabkhāna) producing manuscript illuminations in a style he conceived.

Another quality common to his work is narrative playfulness: the almost hidden eye and partial face of Bahram as he peers out the blinds to watch the frolicking girls in the pool below, the upright goat that looks like a demon along the edge of the horizon in a story about an old woman confronting the sins of Sanjar, the amazing cosmopolitan variety of humans working on the wall in the sample image.

Behzad's most famous works include "The Seduction of Yusuf" from Sa'di's Bustan of 1488, and paintings from the British Library's Nizami manuscript of 1494–95 – particularly scenes from Layla and Majnun and the Haft Paykar (see accompanying image).

"The Seduction of Yusuf", a tale found in both the Bible and the Qur’an, describes a series of interactions between Joseph and Zulaykha, the wife of Potiphar.

The painter's decision to use a monoscenic composition and to make all regions visible to the eye allowed for the inclusion of the most possible narrative elements.

[29] If we contrast Jami's words with Bihzad's illustration, we can see that one is an allegory of the soul's quest for heavenly love and beauty, and the latter is an invitation to mystical contemplation.

[30] One of Behzād's lasting influences stems from his proficient depiction of humans and other organic motifs, bringing new depths to his painting's narratives and characters.

[1][5] Behzād's reputation was well-founded within his own lifetime with nearby rulers, such as the Mughal emperors, being willing to pay large sums for his paintings further adding to his fame and legacy.