Scholars agree that he was likely taught by his father Mīrzā Moḥammad Ḡaffārī before becoming a pupil of
Mihr ʿAlī. Mihr Ali was a renowned painter and master of
Fatḥ Alī Shāh's court. There are several possibilities for his motivations to go abroad. It is not clear if he paid his own way or if he was sponsored by the court. Yale professor of Iranian studies Abbas Amanat offers three theories. One of Amanat's theories is that he went to Europe using personal funds due to the state of Iran's financial constraints and changing court politics with the demise of the Āqāsī government. These changes meant that the court commissioned fewer and smaller paintings, making it difficult for a painter to earn a living. Amanat's second theory is predicated on changes in the court order when
Mīrzā Taqī Khān became the Shah's tutor and chief of the army. Because the new court order likely included promoting modern artistic culture beyond the court and in the press, Abu'l-Hasan may have been terminated as a court painter and sent to Europe by the government to learn about the art of the press. Amanat's third theory is that he was influenced to go abroad by prominent European artists in Iran at the time, including the Italian-French army engineer officer and watercolor artist Colonel F. Colombari. Some of Abu'l-Hasan's later watercolor portraits and a sketch of the crown prince in 1845 resemble the Colonel's style, suggesting that he had significant influence on him. While in Europe, he studied mainly
Renaissance masters. In 1862, a public announcement of the opening of his art academy suggested that he studied works of Master
Raphael,
Michelangelo, and
Titian. Studying during this era was mainly learning how to recreate the works of earlier artists. The copies he created indicate that he spent time in Rome, the Vatican and Florence, and Venice. The art academy that he opened followed the European model of copying previous works, which leads scholars to believe that he received a classical training at an art academy, He continued to follow the Persian pictorial tradition, == Career ==