Radha Awaiting Reconciliation with Krishna, from a Gita Govinda of Jayadeva
1680
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1680
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Radha Awaiting Reconciliation with Krishna, from a Gita Govinda of Jayadeva is a 1680 unspecified by Unknown, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a woman in a bright red dress sitting under a tree, surrounded by flowers and small figures. She waits for her lover, who sits nearby but ignores her. The artist shows her six times in the same scene to show her restless thoughts. She builds a private space with branches, talks to his picture, and sets out drinks—all while he stays quiet. The painting is like a comic strip of her heartache. To see more paintings like this, look up the subject rajput kingdom of mewar.
The artist has depicted Krishna’s favorite lover, Radha, six times to emphasize her agitation while she waits for Krishna. She has made intimate enclosures of flowering branches for their tryst, she pleads with a picture of him, and she lays out blossoms and liquor under a tree in preparation. Her confidante makes an appeal to Krishna who sits under a tree at right, seemingly unmoved and dispassionate. The viewer is meant to put oneself in the place of Radha, and feel her intense longing for Krishna. Even when it seems like the god does not come when he promises, that he does not care, the…
Read the full account in the museum source.
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