Raja Ravi Varma
Shakuntala
1870
Painted by Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906), the pioneer of Indian modern painting, 'Shakuntala' (1898) depicts the heroine of Kālidāsa's Sanskrit play pausing on a path in the forest, glancing back at her beloved King Dushyanta under the pretext of removing a thorn from her foot. Translating the idealised femininity of Indian myth into the vocabulary of European academic realism, the picture became a template for Ravi Varma's vastly influential lithographic editions, which carried his visions of Hindu deities and heroines into households across colonial India. It is a signature work of the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.
Exhibition Venue
Image source: Wikimedia Commons