Sugriva
1720
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1720
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Sugriva is a 1720 unspecified by Unknown, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A monkey king sits cross-legged, one hand raised in a gentle "fear not" gesture. He wears a crown and jewels, surrounded by a simple gold halo. This painting was made for French missionaries in the 1700s, blending Indian temple art with Christian teaching tools. The artists were likely local mural painters, adapting their style for a new audience. It’s a quiet example of cultural exchange—neither side fully understood the other, but both shaped the work. To see more like this, look up southern india, andhra pradhesh.
The seated monkey king Sugriva presents the “fear not” gesture with his right hand. He served as Rama’s faithful ally during the war against Ravana. This work appears to have been made for French Jesuit missionaries by South Indian temple muralists. During the 1700s, missionaries commissioned sets of paintings from which they learned about the gods and literary figures popular among the people of the region.
Instead of gold, artists applied strips of paper, colored with a mixture of silver paint and an organic yellow pigment called gamboge.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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