Preparatory Sketch for Gangavatran

This is a preparatory sketch by Raja Ravi Varma for the Shiva in the picture of Gangavatran or the Descent of Ganga. The painting was printed as a chromolithograph by the Ravi Varma Press with the title 'Gangavatran'. It in interesting to observe how Varma experiments with the pose of Shiva. One of the options Varma explores is to have the ancillary hands held upwards. In the same sketch, he also delineates the ancillary hands held down- the format finally adopted. The downward hands accentuates the triangular composition of the final version.