Hari-Hara
1885
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1885
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Hari-Hara is a 1885 paint by Unknown, a Impressionism work, depicting Kalighat, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows a blue-skinned figure with four arms sitting cross-legged. Two arms hold musical instruments—a drum and a flute—while the other two gesture. The figure wears a necklace of white dots and a crown with peacock feathers. The background is simple, with a yellow base and small figures at the bottom corners. The bright blue skin and crown suggest this is a depiction of Hari-Hara, a figure blending Hindu gods. The style looks like it comes from the *kalighat* tradition, known for bold colors and religious themes. Check out more about the *kalighat* subject next.
The artwork is an opaque watercolour painting on paper from 1885, depicting Hari-Hara, the merged form of the deities Vishnu and Shiva. It was acquired by the museum from Miss M. Steele in 1950, part of a collection inherited from her mother, a Sanskrit scholar at Cambridge in 1894. The collection may have been originally gathered by Steele’s grandmother, who had lived in India.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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