Durga and Rama
1885
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1885
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Durga and Rama is a 1885 paint by Unknown, a Impressionism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows two figures, a woman and a man, standing side by side. The woman, on the left, wears a red sari and a crown, while the man, on the right, is dressed in yellow. Both have long black hair and are adorned with jewelry. The woman's right hand is raised, and the man's left hand is extended, as if they are about to touch. The background is a muted blue-gray color. The woman's crown and the man's jewelry suggest a regal or divine status. The woman's raised hand may indicate a gesture of blessing or protection. The painting's style, with its emphasis on realistic detail and use of chiaroscuro, is reminiscent of Impressionism.
The painting, rendered in opaque watercolour on paper in 1885, depicts the goddess Durga allowing Rama to worship her prematurely, as the ritual is conducted outside its prescribed season of spring rather than autumn. The work was acquired in 1894 from Miss M Steele, whose mother, a Sanskrit scholar at Cambridge, had inherited the collection; Steele noted that her grandmother, who had lived in India, may have originally gathered the pieces.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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