Lord Shiva and Family

PROPERTY FROM THE FRITZ SCHLEICHER FAMILY COLLECTION

Oil on canvas
24 3/4 x 18 in. (63 x 45.8 cm.)

PROVENANCE:
The current lot was acquired by Fritz Schleicher in 1903, when he purchased the Ravi Varma Fine Arts Lithographic Press and its contents from the artist Raja Ravi Varma.

‘Among all early academic artists, only Varma stood out as ‘a legend in his own time’. Rabindranath spoke for the western-educated generation when he stated: ‘In my childhood, when Ravi Varma’s age arrived in Bengal, reproductions of European paintings on the walls were promptly replaced with oleographs of his works.’ The age to which Varma belonged, and which he mirrored so faithfully in his work, is gone... One has to go back to history to grasp the revolutionary implications of his achievements. To nineteenth-century Indians Ravi Varma’s history paintings epitomised the magic that was naturalism.’ (Partha Mitter, Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 1850-1922, Cambridge, 1994, p. 180)

As stated in the previous lot, the importance of Ravi Varma’s career cannot be underestimated, especially in its lasting impact upon the visual vocabulary of late 19th and early 20th century Indian art. His inspired decision, to expand his artistic production into the realm of oleographic prints, spread his particular blend of Western and Indian imagery across the country, traversing all stratas of society. His prints were used in the production of calendar art and advertisements; his compositions became the basis for silver designs, and even became the covers for matchboxes and paan wrappers. His paintings inspired early Indian filmmakers and Indian cinematography. Over time, his popularity inevitably led to a critical backlash against this style of painting, condemning it as nothing more than a commercially viable reproduction of late western Orientalist paintings, but at the time, even amongst the highest members of the Raj, he was almost universally applauded.

‘The glittering career of Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906) is a striking case study of salon art in India – the ‘artistic genius’ who embodied the virtues expected of an academic artist. In the year following his death, Modern Review described him as the greatest artist of modern India, a nation builder, who showed the moral courage of a gifted ‘high-born’ in taking up the ‘degrading profession of painting’... Today it is hard to imagine the reputation enjoyed by Varma during his lifetime. The death of ‘the famous Indian artist’ was announced on 25 December 1906 in The Times of London. He was courted as assiduously by the Raj as by the Indian maharajas, whilst prints of his Hindu deities hung in every home.’ (ibid., p. 179)

Varma’s paintings were admired by Lord Curzon who called his art a ‘happy blend of Western technique and Indian subject’ and he had ‘for the first time in the art history of India, commenced a new style of painting’ (ibid.) The Prince of Wales, on his visit to India in 1875, had expressed pleasure in Varma’s painting, and was promptly gifted two paintings by the Maharaja of Travancore. The Duke of Buckingham also purchased a painting by the artist. Lord Ampthill, wrote to Varma’s son on his death stating ‘when I think that I would not see Ravi Varma in this world any more my heart is filled with sorrow.’ (ibid., p. 180)

The current painting, titled Shankar, comes from the Fritz Schleicher family collection, and formed part of the collection of the Fine Arts Lithographic Press in Malavali. Like the previous lot, it was used as an exemplar for an oleograph at the press. In this instance, the print appears to have been created once the press had finally moved to Malavali, and hence, although undated, it is likely to have been created by Raja Ravi Varma between 1899 and 1903. The painting depicts Lord Shiva seated with his wife Parvati and his son Ganesh on a large golden throne, with his faithful vahana Nandi lying at their feet. They are seated in the foothills of the Himalayas, with the heavenly abode of Mount Kailash visible in the snow-capped mountains in the distance. All three deities are richly attired in silk, and adorned with pearl and gem-encrusted jewellery. Lord Ganesh and Parvati, each wear a golden crown inset with jewels, whilst Lord Shiva wears his matted hair tied up in a high chignon, encircled by a naga; the narrow crescent moon supported in his hair by a diamond diadem. Having swallowed the poison of the world, Shiva’s throat glows a deep blue. All the elements of traditional iconography associated with pictures of the Holy Family are present in this painting, but a few oddities are noticeable. The first, is that Lord Shiva sports a very Victorian style moustache; the second, is that the royal family are seated firmly on a throne flanked by two somewhat bewildered lions. Both details are not traditional aspects of the scene. Clearly rather than painting Parvati’s vahana, the lion, as an actual animal in the same manner as Nandi at their feet, the artist has chosen to incorporate this element by ways of a throne. Such changes to traditional iconography would not have been lost on his Hindu audience, the implication being that the British Empire, as symbolised by the Lion throne, is but a passing phase, and in reality it is Lord Shiva who rules supreme.

The artist would have termed this painting a ‘religious’ rather than a ‘Puranic’ one (for further discussion on terminology, see the previous lot). The main reason for this distinction being, that it was created as a religious icon for use in personal worship, and the oleographs that were created from the exemplar, were distributed widely and sold outside temples throughout the country. The pilgrims who purchased these prints, began to identify with Ravi Varma’s paintings in such a manner, that his familiar iconography became the accepted norm. This imagery helped to create an ‘imaginary community’ that transcended regional differences, and instead, allowed people to identify themselves as individuals who belonged to one nation. In doing so, the seeds of nationalism were born.

‘For the first time there existed a universal imagery in gestures, types, and draperies for the huge corpus of Indian mythology. This unification was brought about by Ravi Varma’s charisma and personification of the art-artist nexus, as well as by his industrial entrepreneurship and the building up of a distribution network for a market which was hitherto only in rudimentary existence. Ravi Varma not only developed the imagery but also the market ...The veins of trade were not only open for the transfer of goods and capital, but also for the transfer of values and ideas. In this wide field of cultural exchanges and cross currents, Ravi Varma is one of the most interesting figures. Till then there existed no nationalist art-manifest, nor did he ever introduce one of his own; still, he has influenced Indian culture on a wider scale than any artist did before or after him. He created art according to the project of Swadeshi long before the term was coined... no other artist could capture the imagination of the Indian people as a whole as he did with his prints from the Ravi Varma Fine Arts Lithographic Press.’ (Erwin Neumayer and Christine Schelberger, eds., Raja Ravi Varma Portrait of an Artist, The Diary of C. Raja Raja Varma, New Delhi, 2005, p. 25)

REGISTERED ANTIQUITY – NON-EXPORTABLE ITEM
(Please refer to the Terms and Conditions of Sale at the back of the catalogue)
Condition: The colours of the original are less saturated than the catalogue illustration, the yellows and red of the dhotis and sari are brighter. The background snow scape is a brighter white than the catalogue illustration. The skin tones of Ganesha and Paravati are lighter than the catalogue illustration. The painting has been recently cleaned. A thin, horizontal line of retouching runs in patches from the centre left edge of the canvas to Ganesh’s left upper arm and then across Parvati’s right forearm to the right edge of the canvas, which is partially visible to the naked eye and fluoresces when examined under UV light. When examined under UV light, three vertical lines of retouching at the extreme upper left edge are visible, and also very slightly visible to the naked eye. Scattered spots of retouching above the heads of the central figures and a denser area at the upper right edge of the painting. A further narrow band of retouching is visible along the entire lower edge, parallel to the frame, with further small spots extending into the front left leg, shank and saddle of Nandi. A 1 cm. square patch of earlier repair to the reverse of the canvas, corresponding to beneath Shiva’s left earring and a second patch of strengthening corresponding to an area of restoration to the left of Shiva’s crown. Two minor spots of restoration visible under Shiva’s left nostril, and a further spot within his diadem, beneath the crescent moon. Minor areas of consolidation to Shiva’s left foot. The painting is strip-lined. Overall good condition.