A Disconsolate Lady on a Terrace with Attendants
1730
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1730
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
A Disconsolate Lady on a Terrace with Attendants is a 1730 unspecified by Unknown, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A woman in a pink dress sits on a terrace, touching her chest and lap. Two servants stand beside her—one waves a whisk, the other bites her finger. The sky is bright yellow, and a strange black hill cuts into the scene. This painting comes from 18th-century India, made for a royal court. The artist played with space in a fun way: the sun hides behind the hill, and the sky is split to fit the palace rooftops. It’s less about realism, more about mood and storytelling. If you like this, look up more paintings from the Rajput kingdom of Raghogarh.
This princess is waiting for her lover to arrive. Thinking of him, she touches her breast and her lap, while one attendant keeps flies off with the royal whisk, and the other bites her finger in a gesture of astonishment. The artist has whimsically manipulated elements of the landscape, such as the blazing sun peeking out from behind the flat black hill at the lower left corner, and invading the yellow strip at the top with blocks of blue sky to accommodate the finials of the palace rooftops.
Her loose hair and seating posture with one leg outstretched indicate that she is losing hope.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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