ForumIAS LATEST
- SFG FRC 2027 | Program starts from 19th Dec. 2026 | Admissions open for Entrance Test Click Here to know more →
- Prelims Test Series (PTS) for Prelims 2027 starts 11th Oct. 2026 Click Here to know more →
- [Pre-order] Ethics Redbook 3rd Edition: Delivery starts from 10th October onwards Click Here to Read More →
- 21 Sept. | GS Advance Program (GSAP) for UPSC 2027 Mains starts from 11th Oct. Click Here to Read More →
News: Radhikaraje Gaekwad, Maharani of Baroda and custodian of one of the world’s largest private collections of Raja Ravi Varma’s original paintings, announced that the paintings will be exhibited across India and abroad in the future.
About Raja Ravi Varma
- Raja Ravi Varma was an Indian painter celebrated for blending Hindu themes with European realism and naturalism.
- Birth: He was born to an aristocratic family in Travancore (Kerala) in 1848.
- Early life: He began training in painting, particularly water colours, in the Travancore palace at 14 under court artist Rama Swami Naidu.
- He later picked up oil painting techniques by observing British painter Theodore Jenson at the Travancore court.
- Patronized by: He was patronized by Ayilyam Thirunal, the then ruler of Travancore.
- Artistic Style: He blended Indian mythology and themes with European techniques, particularly oil painting, realism and three-dimensional effects.
- He painted portraits and scenes from the Mahabharata and Ramayana, depicting dramatic episodes from Indian mythology.
- His works, such as Harischandra in Distress, Jatayu Vadha and Shri Rama Vanquishing the Sea, realistically portrayed Hindu deities and epic characters.
- Famous works: Damayanti Talking to a Swan, Shakuntala Looking for Dushyanta, Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair, Shantanu and Matsyagandha and Yashoda and Krishna are his famous works.
- Contributions:
- He was among the first Indian artists to use oil paints and master lithographic reproduction.
- In 1873, the painting of Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair won the Governor’s Gold Medal when it was presented in the Madras Presidency.
- His idealised paintings of women wearing saris and jewellery earned him gold medals at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
- In 1894, he established the Raja Ravi Varma Fine Art Lithographic Press in Bombay to produce affordable prints of paintings depicting Indian gods and goddesses.
- His prints of mythological figures, political leaders such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and historical figures such as Chhatrapati Shivaji helped create shared visual symbols of Indian identity.
- In 1904, the British colonial government awarded Varma with the Kaiser-i-Hind Gold Medal.
- According to art historians, Raja Ravi Varma’s dramatic history paintings influenced the pioneers of Indian cinema like Dadasaheb Phadke and Baburao Painter.
- In 2013, a crater on the planet Mercury was named in his honour.
- Legacy: He died in 1906.
- He is remembered for giving Indians their western, classical representations of Hindu gods and goddesses.
