Raja Ravi Varma

Raja Ravi Varma, the gifted artist from Kerala, (1848-1906) occupies an indomitable position on the canvas of Indian painting. Born and brought up in the aristocratic family in Kerala, his training was initiated by his uncle Raja Raja Varma. Raja Varma approached the royalty and arranged for his further learning. The ruler Ayilyam Thirunal took personal interest in nurturing Ravi Varma’s talent.Thirunal was convinced that the circumstances in the palace at Thiruvananthapuram would be ideal to help him learn the nuances of oil painting.

He exposed him to the work of Italian painters, and brought him books to polish his talent. One such book was Edward Moor F. R. S. book ‘Hindu Pantheon’, which traced the progress of religious pictures that correspond with Indian temple idols. While his reference to the European art books provided him with an insight of the anatomy of the human body amongst several other things.

This training for Ravi Varma continued for nine years. Ravi Varma very well knew that though he had learnt a lot under the patronage of Thirunal he had a long way to go before he could achieve excellence in oil painting. By and large, Ravi Varma used paints prepared from leaves, flowers, bark and soil. When he painted portraits of young couple, Attingal Mootha Thampuran and his wife Sethulakshmi Bai he used a mixture of olive oil and several other things.

There was a company in Madras who had oil paints for sale, Varma got them and handled the paints through trial and error.

There was one artist at Travancore—Ramaswamy Naicker of Madura, who knew the art of oil painting however he refused to help Varma seeing a potential rival in him. Naciker’s student Arumugham Pillai also knew the technique of oil paint and would often help Ravi Varma during the nights secretly.

A European painter Theodore Jenson visited Thirunal in 1868 and sought his patronage. He knew the art of oil painting but he refused to teach Ravi Varma for the same reason as of Naicker’s. Jenson painted the portraits of Thirunal and his wife, which were far away from the finesse, and the magnificence of portraits executed by Varma later.

Overwhelmed with the precision and perfection of the portraits, the ruler presented the highest honor ‘Veerasringhala’ to Ravi Varma.

Ravi Varma also won praises for painting the portrait of Duke of Buckingham and the sub judge of the Kozhikkode court. Another feather was sewn in his cap in 1873 when he received the first prize for his painting ‘Nair woman with jasmine flowers in her hair’ in the International Art Show organized by the Governor of Madras. The same painting was sent in the art competition at Vienna in 1887 and it received the most distinguished award. This award catapulted the fame of Varma far and wide.

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