Hanuman and Ravana
1830
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1830
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Hanuman and Ravana is a 1830 paint by Unknown, a Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows a blue-skinned figure with multiple arms, a golden crown, and a red skirt, wrestling a white-skinned man with a black face. The blue figure holds a sword and a club, while the other man has his arms raised in a defensive pose. Behind them, a green tree and a peach-colored wall frame the scene. The bright colors and bold outlines make the figures pop against the plain background. The blue figure’s extra arms and fierce expression stand out as unusual. Look up Romanticism next to see how this style’s drama fits into art history.
This 1830 opaque watercolour with tin-alloy details depicts Hanuman, the monkey god, fighting Ravana, the multi-headed, multi-armed demon king of Lanka, set against a minimal forest backdrop of a single tree. Hanuman is rendered in pale grey to contrast with Ravana’s blue skin, while metallic tin alloy highlights adornments such as necklaces and ear ornaments. The work reflects Kalighat painting’s characteristic use of vivid colour, simplified forms, and rapid brushwork, emerging in Calcutta during a period of shifting colonial influence. Produced by artists who migrated from rural Bengal,…
Read the full account in the museum source.
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