Travancore Kings and their Love for Paintings
Prehistoric paintings/sketches (Petroglyphs) of hunting and animal scenes were seen in Bimbetka, Jogimara, Mirzapur. The very first written evidence of Painting in India comes from ‘Mudra Rakshasa’ (The Signet of the Minister) written by Vishakhadatta in 9th Century AD. It mentions about Painting being practiced as an art form in Ancient India (Changragupta Maurya reign). But the real beginning of paintings can be traced from Gupta Age (Ajanta, Elora).
Indian paintings can be classified into Mural and Miniature. Murals are the ones carved on the walls of large structures. While Miniature Paintings are very detailed and very small painting, executed on a very small scale, on paper, leaf cloth or glass, Word Miniature is derived from a Latin word ‘minium’ which means Red as Lead paint was used in illuminated manuscripts during renaissance and has nothing to do with the size.
During Mughal reign Akbar laid the foundation for the Mughal paintings. Under the Persian influence new theme colors and forms began to appear. Jahangir being a painter himself also promoted paintings but under Humayun it declined. After that emerged a culture of regional paintings like Rajput Paintings (further divided into Rajasthani and Pahari), Madhubani Painting and Kalighat paintings.
At the time when British were busy conquering and establishing their bases in eastern India (Bengal and Awadh) the art of the western and Southern India was yet in a thriving state. In the hilly areas of Jammu and Punjab (United India), the artists retained and developed the Mughal style of painting.
Three among such paintings are:
Rajasthani Miniature paintings
These Miniature paintings are a charming mixture of Mughal and Indigenous Indian Styles, characterized by bold outlines and bright colors depicting religious or romantic theme. Features:
Bulging eyes, pointed nose, slim waist.
Skin colour painted in brown.
Colour of hair and eye painted as black,
Traditional Indian dress is painted while men had turban on their heads.
Court scenes and royal portraits were also depicted.
Sometimes the paintings were divided into several compartments so as to separate one scene from another. But Paintings lacked perspective (images were of equivalent sizes.) In Kisangarh art- colors were used from rotten vegetables. Paintings like fierce camel fights, women wearing jewels stretching seductively or in various stages of undress, the blood and gore of a tiger or boar hunt were among the remarkable ones.
Travancore paintings
Once part of Chera Empire, Travancore remained a Kingdom between 1729 and 1949 and was ruled by Royal Family of Travancore. Art forms depicted on the temples are still mesmerizing. King Marthanda Varna founded the modern Kingdom of Travancore by militarily expanding the Kingdom of Venad in the 18th Century. The descendants since then had been a continuous lover of art forms like paintings. One such cherished painter was Raja Ravi Verma, born in a family where everyone in the family was a painter. He started making paintings of Travancore rulers which were devoid of exaggeration. He mastered the art of oil painting and made portraits like Nayar lady, Hamsardamyanti and mythological figures.
Paintings here are known for their delicacy, richness in imagination, variety in design and intricacy in execution. It was the influence of such a family legacy upon paintings that South India witnessed, the evidence of which still speaks plenty about the exemplary art.