Vasudeva and Krishna
1885
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1885
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Vasudeva and Krishna is a 1885 paint by Unknown, a Impressionism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
A man stands with his arms crossed, holding a small object in his hands. He wears a white cloth draped over one shoulder, with a red scarf underneath. At his feet, a lion crouches, and a snake coils around his legs. The background is a flat, pale blue-green. This scene mixes animals and humans in a calm, stylized way. The colors are bright but simple, with clean outlines and no deep shadows. Look up chiaroscuro next to see how artists use light and shadow for drama.
The painting depicts Vasudeva holding the infant Krishna, rendered in opaque watercolor on paper. In the foreground, a snake and another animal are visible. The work was acquired in 1894 from Miss M. Steele, whose mother, a Sanskrit scholar at Cambridge, had inherited the collection, possibly originally gathered during her time in India.
Read the full account in the museum source.
