Painting
ca. 1895 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) was born in Kilimanoor Palace in Travancore, South India. At the age of 14, he moved to the Travancore Palace where he was taught watercolour painting by the palace painter Rama Swamy Naidu. Theodor Jenson, a British painter who was a guest of the Palace, introduced the techniques of oil painting to Varma. He began exhibiting his work and won several medals at international exhibitions, including one at Vienna and two at Chicago. He is best known for his images of Hindu gods and goddesses and scenes from India's great epics. In a break with Indian tradition, Ravi Varma used human models to create a form for his vision of Hindu gods. He also did a series of paintings of Indian women, often depicted in regional dress.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Painted in oil on canvas |
| Brief description | Painting, lady holding fan, by Raja Ravi Varma, oil on canvas, Kerala, ca. 1895 |
| Physical description | Painting, oil on canvas, portrait of an Indian woman holding a fan as she leans on a window frame overlooking a landscape with shrubbery, distant hills and the setting sun. She wears a pale blue sari, with heavy bangles and other jewellery. Painted in the Western academic tradition. |
| Dimensions |
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| Content description | Woman holding a fan. |
| Object history | Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) was born in Kilimanoor Palace in Travancore, South India. At the age of 14, he moved to the Travancore Palace where he was taught watercolour painting by the palace painter Rama Swamy Naidu. Theodor Jenson, a British painter who was a guest of the Palace, introduced the techniques of oil painting to Varma. He began exhibiting his work and won several medals at international exhibitions, including one at Vienna and two at Chicago. He is best known for his images of Hindu gods and goddesses and scenes from India's great epics. In a break with Indian tradition, Ravi Varma used human models to create a form for his vision of Hindu gods. He also did a series of paintings of Indian women, often depicted in regional dress. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) was born in Kilimanoor Palace in Travancore, South India. At the age of 14, he moved to the Travancore Palace where he was taught watercolour painting by the palace painter Rama Swamy Naidu. Theodor Jenson, a British painter who was a guest of the Palace, introduced the techniques of oil painting to Varma. He began exhibiting his work and won several medals at international exhibitions, including one at Vienna and two at Chicago. He is best known for his images of Hindu gods and goddesses and scenes from India's great epics. In a break with Indian tradition, Ravi Varma used human models to create a form for his vision of Hindu gods. He also did a series of paintings of Indian women, often depicted in regional dress. |
| Bibliographic reference | Swallow, Deborah and John Guy eds. Arts of India: 1550-1900. text by Rosemary Crill, John Guy, Veronica Murphy, Susan Stronge and Deborah Swallow. London : V&A Publications, 1990. 240 p., ill. ISBN 1851770224, p.226, pl.201. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | IS.59-1978 |
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| Record created | December 15, 1999 |
| Record URL |
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