ArcadópolisRaja Ravi Varma
Indian, 1848–1906. Indian realism (academic oil painting)
Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906) was born in Kilimanoor, in the kingdom of Travancore (now Kerala, in southern India), into an aristocratic family linked to the royal house. He joined European academic oil technique with Indian subjects: scenes from the epics the “Mahabharata” and “Ramayana,” goddesses and Indian women. In 1894 he opened a lithographic press in Bombay, and his oleographs of Hindu gods circulated so widely that they became the popular image of those figures.
10 works in the Museum
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