Kartikeya, from a Kalighat album
1890
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1890
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Kartikeya, from a Kalighat album is a 1890 unspecified by Unknown, a company_painting work, depicting bengal, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A young god sits on a peacock, one leg crossed over the other. He wears shiny shoes with buckles and a neatly trimmed mustache. His shawl drapes like a scarf, and the peacock’s tail fans out behind him like a glowing halo. This painting comes from 19th-century Kolkata, where artists mixed Hindu gods with British-style fashion. The god Kartikeya, usually shown as a warrior, here looks more like a city dandy—part tradition, part trend. To see more works like this, look up kalighat.
