Raja Ravi Varma Koil Thampuran (29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906) was a celebrated Indian painter and artist. He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art for a number of aesthetic and broader social reasons. Firstly, his works are held to be among the best examples of the fusion of European techniques with a purely Indian sensibility.
2. RAJA RAVI VARMA
Raja Ravi Varma Koil Thampuran (29 April 1848 –
2 October 1906) was a celebrated Indian painter and artist.
He is considered among the greatest painters in the history
of Indian art for a number of aesthetic and broader social
reasons. Firstly, his works are held to be among the best
examples of the fusion of European techniques with a purely
Indian sensibility.
While continuing the tradition and aesthetics of Indian art, his
paintings employed the latest European academic
art techniques of the day. Secondly, he was notable for
making affordable lithographs of his paintings available to the
public, which greatly enhanced his reach and influence as a
painter and public figure.
4. Indeed, his lithographs increased the involvement of
common people with fine arts and defined artistic tastes
among common people for several decades.
In particular, his depictions of Hindu deities and episodes
from the epics and Puranas have received profound
acceptance from the public and are found, often as
objects of worship, across the length and breadth of
India.
Raja Ravi Varma was closely related to the royal family
of Travancore in the deep south of India
(Kerala and Tamil Nadu). Later in his life, two of his
granddaughters were adopted into that royal family, and
their descendants comprise the totality of the present
royal family of Travancore, including the latest three
Maharajas (Balarama Varma III, Marthanda Varma
III and Rama Varma VII
6. LIFE
Raja Ravi Varma was born at Kilimanoor palace in the
princely state of Travancore (present-day Kerala) into an
aristocratic family belonging to the Nair caste.
Ravi Varma was the son of Ezhumavil Neelakanthan
Bhattatiripad, a Brahmin gentleman, by his Nair wife
Umayamba Thampurratti. His mother, Uma Ambabayi
Thampuratty, belonged to the baronial family which ruled the
Kilimanoor feudal estate within the kingdom of Travancore.
She was a poet and writer of some talent, whose
work Parvati Swayamvaram was published by Varma after
her death. In keeping with the Sambandam tradition of
matrimony which was prevalent in those days, she was
married to a Brahmin gentleman in preference to a man of
her own Nair caste
8. MARRAIGE
In 1866, at the age of 18, Varma was married to 12-year-old
Bhageerthi Bayi of the royal house of Mavelikkara, another
major fief of Travancore kingdom. Notably, the house of
Mavellikara was a branch of the Royal House of Travancore.
Bhageerthi was the youngest of three sisters, and both of her elder
sisters had been adopted into the royal family of Travancore in
1857, in order to carry on the lineage. They were known as the
Senior and Junior Rani of Attingal, and in their progeny was vested
the succession to the throne of Travancore.
Therefore, Ravi Varma's connection to the royal family became
very close due to his marriage with Bhageerthi. Indeed, his
children (because they belonged to their mother's family) would be
royal by birth. The marriage, which was arranged by their parents
in the proper Indian manner, was harmonious and successful. The
couple were blessed with five children, being two sons and three
daughters.
9. RAJA RAVI VARMA
AND RAJA RAJA
VARMA (1900). RAJA
RAVI VARMA, OF
KILIMANOOR PALACE,
WAS A WORLD
RENOWNED FIGURE IN
THE REALM OF ART
10. ART CAREER
The British administrator Edgar Thurston was significant in
promoting the careers of Varma and his brother.Varma received
widespread acclaim after he won an award for an exhibition of his
paintings at Vienna in 1873. Varma's paintings were also sent to
the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893 and he
was awarded three gold medals. He travelled throughout India in
search of subjects. He often modelled Hindu Goddesses on South
Indian women, whom he considered beautiful.
Ravi Varma is particularly noted for his paintings depicting episodes
from the story of Dushyanta and Shakuntala,
and Nala and Damayanti, from the Mahabharata. Ravi Varma's
representation of mythological characters has become a part of the
Indian imagination of the epics. He is often criticized for being too
showy and sentimental in his style but his work remains very
popular in India. Many of his fabulous paintings are housed at Laxmi
Vilas Palace, Vadodara.
12. RAJA RAVI VARMA
PRESS
Apparently on the advice of the then Dewan (Prime
Minister) of Travancore, T. Madhava Rao, Ravi Varma
started a lithographic printing press in Ghatkopar,
Mumbai in 1894 and later shifted it to Malavli
near Lonavala, Maharashtra in 1899. The press was
managed by Varma's brother, Raja Varma. In 1901 the
press was sold to his printing technician from Germany,
Mr. Schleicher and later closed down after it was gutted
in an accidental fire.
The oleographs produced by the press were mostly of
Hindu gods and goddesses in scenes adapted mainly
from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the Puranas.
These oleographs were very popular and continued to
be printed in thousands for many years, even after the
1906 death of Ravi Varma
14. NOTABLE WORKS OF RAJA
RAVI VARMA
1) A Family of Beggars
2) A Lady Playing Swarbat
3) Arjuna and Subhadra
4) Damayanti Talking to a Swan
5) Draupadi Dreading to Meet Kichaka
6) Girl in Sage Kanwa's Hermitage
7) Jatayu
8) Lady Giving Alms at the Temple
9) Lady Lost in Thought
10) Lady with Fruit
16. 11) Lord Krishna as Ambassador
12) Lord Rama Conquers Varuna
13) Nair Woman
14) Romancing Couple
15) Shakuntala
16) Shakuntala Composing a Love Letter to
King Dushyanta
17) Shantanu and Matsyagandha
18) Swarbat Player
19) The Heartbroken
20) The Orchestra
21) Victory of Indrajit
18. HONOUR
In 1904, Viceroy Lord Curzon, on behalf of the British
King Emperor, bestowed upon Varma the Kaisar-i-Hind
Gold Medal. A college dedicated to fine arts was also
constituted in his honour at Mavelikara, Kerala. Raja
Ravi Varma High School at Kilimanoor was named after
him and there are many cultural organizations
throughout India bearing his name. In 2013, the crater
Varma on Mercury was named in his honor.
Considering his vast contribution to Indian art, the
Government of Kerala has instituted an award called
"Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram", which is awarded every
year to people who show excellence in the field of art
and culture.
20. ART GALLERY
Ravi Varma Virtual Art Gallery featuring images of
oil paintings and art works of Raja Ravi Varma and
famous artists around the world.
Raja Ravi Varma art gallery includes, Village Belle,
Lady Lost in Thought, Damayanti Talking to a
Swan, Arjuna and Subhadra, Shakuntala,
Romancing Couple, Oil extractor and much more.
