Shiva and Kama
1885
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1885
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Shiva and Kama is a 1885 paint by Unknown, a Impressionism work, depicting Kalighat, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
The image shows a painting of two figures, one sitting and one lying down. The sitting figure is a blue-skinned man with long hair and a snake around his neck. He is wearing a necklace and a loincloth. The lying figure is a man with a purple shirt and red pants. He is wearing a headband and has a mustache. The background of the painting is beige, with some orange and blue shapes. The overall style of the painting is simple and colorful. This painting is an example of Impressionism, a style that emphasizes capturing light and color.
The artwork is a watercolor painting on paper from 1885, depicting Shiva in the act of destroying Kama, the god of love. It is part of a series that was inherited by Miss M. Steele from her mother, a Sanskrit scholar at Cambridge, and later acquired by the museum in 1950. The collection may have been originally gathered by Steele’s grandmother, who had lived in India. The provenance suggests a familial connection to South Asian art and scholarship.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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