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Gaekwad of Baroda commissioned Varma to paint 14 mythological figures from the Ramayana and Mahabharata for which he took a trip of all the significant places (mentioned in the epics) in Northern India. The paintings like ‘Nala Damayanti'; ‘Shantanu and Matsyagandha'; ‘Shantanu and Ganga', ‘Radha and Madhava'; ‘Kamsa Maya'; ‘Shrikrishna and Devaki'; 'Arjuna and Subhadra'; ‘Draupadi Vastraharan'; ‘Harischasndra and Taramati'; ‘Vishwamitra and Menaka'; ‘Seetaswayamvaram'; ‘Young Bharat and a Lion club'; ‘The Birth of Sri Krishna' and ‘Keechaka and Sairanthri' were the consequence of this tour.
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For the project Varma received Rs. 50,000, which he used to set up a lithograph press at Mumbai with the help of two German experts Schleicher and Girchard. The pictures that came out of the press reached in different parts of the world. The press also had oleographs like---‘The Birth of Shakuntala'; ‘Lakshmi', ‘Saraswati', ‘Shukha and Rambha'; ‘Arjun and Rambha'; ‘Madalasa and Rudwaja'; ‘Parvati and Larameshwara in the disguise of Junglefolk'; ‘Radha and Krishna'; Yashoda and Krishna'; ‘Shivaji'; ‘Menaka and Shakuntala'; ‘Tilottama'; ‘Urvashi'; ‘Rambha'; ‘Vasantasena'; ‘Malati'; Ahalya'; ‘Draupadi and Sudakshana'; ‘Dattatreya'; ‘Savitri and Satyavan'; ‘Tara'; ‘Seeta and the Golden Deer'; ‘Krishna-kreeda'; ‘Mahashweta'; ‘Kadambari'; ‘Seeta and Ravana'; ‘Indra'; ‘Kumuda Sundari'; 'Tara Devi';' Rama Vanvas'; ‘Shakuntala writing her letter'; etc. |
His health had started deteriorating by 1901 however he continued to take some projects like painting the portraits of Rajput warriors Maharana Pratap Singh based on miniature and his three heir apparent based on their photographs for the Mewar Maharana Fateh Singh. Varma also painted the portrait of Maharana Fateh Singh within three days after watching him at the palace for three hours.
On the invitation of Raja Deendayal, Ravi Varma went to Hyderabad to see the rich collection of painting at Nizam's palace, which housed Persian, Mughal, Rajput, Bijapur, Maharashtrian and other kinds of paintings. He painted several notable paintings like ‘The Retired Solider', and ‘Hyderabad Husain Sagar Lake' at Hyderabad.
In 1903, during his stay in Madras he painted the portrait of the Madras Governor, Havelock, which he presented to the Memorial Committee.
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His lithograph press was also doing well though with hiccups in between. The not so positive development was the circulation of several fake prints in the market. Only a trained eye could discern a true Ravi Varma painting. Disturbed by this, Varma requested changes to Gopal Krishna Gokhale in the copyright law, which were later, incorporated.
Ravi Varma also painted portraits based on faded photographs, and painted duplicates. |
His last work before he was confined to bed includes the portrait of Governor Lord Amphill and the painting of the kheda operation.
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