Raja Ravi Varma: The Master's Legacy Lives On

"Less known is the fact that a good deal of portrait work attributed to Ravi Varma from the period 1880 onwards is the joint work of both the Varma brothers, although a few works are signed by both the Varma brother," Erwin Neumayer.

"He carried the burden of his famous brother's artistic enterprises, and after 'serious painting', as he describes the drudgery of painting backgrounds and decorative props in his brother's portrait commissions, was in search of artistic expression in his own landscape paintings.

Raja Varma searched all his life for a better technique to express subtle nuances in light and feeling. He also understood his limitations in painting figures and spoke of the completion of paintings of figurative subjects like a victory. 

He did some accomplished paintings of women, which radiate the eroticism so much sought after in European paintings. One wonders if he had lived longer, to proceed on his own path, he would have become the founder of a school of open-air painting tradition. 

"Ravi Varma was acquainted with the story from the primary source, the Mahabharata, but he was equally familiar with its adaptation into the secondary source, the Attakatha, with the performing Kathakali version as well," Rupika Chawla. 

The Attakatha is here being used to qualify the Nala-Damayanti series as painted by Ravi Varma. There are several Damayanti painting, four of which form a linear narrative that belong to diverse collections and were painted at different periods of time.

Damyanti is considered the noblest heroine painted in Indian literature and a "jewel among beauties". Kalidasa was the first poet to adopt the theme of a non-human messenger as the link between two separated lovers. 

In Damayanti and Hamsam, a painting immortalised by Ravi Varma, the woman and the bird exchange confidence. It is obvious Ravi Varma has tried to imbibe the same beauty that has been conveyed by the literary source.

Rukmini Varma follows her great, great grandfather's style with her own portrayal of Nala and Damayanti. Painted in the late 1970s, this work is modern and less interpretative of the style in which Ravi Varma depicted the scene.

Rukmini Varma says she has 'visions' of her characters before she paints them. Hence her subjects are more structurally enhanced than the human forms painted by her forefather. "I am telling the story through different, yet familiar imagery," she explains.

Notice the similarities in composition - the human figures, a swan, a lotus plant and a pillar, so similar to those in the painting done by Ravi Varma. Yet the treatment and colouration of all these items are different and uniquely personal.

While the focus of Rukmini's work is her characters, she follows the same gesso techniques used by Ravi Varma to paint jewellery. "Thats the only way to give a 3D effect to jewellery," she explains, adding that it's kind of a 'Varma' trait.

The subjects and the portraitist represent a link between an old world of aristocracy with noble heritage, and the present world of the 21st century; a world of high culture and entrepreneurship, as exemplified by the lady, who has built from the scratch a successful business.

Jay’s work is a confluence of differences and similarities when juxtaposed alongside that of his illustrious ancestor. While Ravi Varma worked with a palette of a little over a dozen colours, Jay’s use of colour is far richer and a lot more vivid, producing a very unique effect.

While Jay retains Ravi Varma’s command over drapery and the flow of fabric, a keen focus is brought to details of the attire, though bearing in mind a balance so as not to overwhelm the viewer. 

Nawabzada Omer Bin Jung’s 85 year old brocade Shervani is exquisitely rendered, whereas the emphasis on Begum Anjum Jung’s traditional Sari lies in its rich red flows and folds of the chiffon fabric. 

Close attention is paid to other details: the hands of each member in the portrait are skilfully executed—in the case of the ladies, the play of jewellery against skin is emphasied, while the hand of the patriarch grasping the sword shows every vein and nail carefully painted. 

So too the shine of the marble flooring, the folds in the son Ayaan Jung’s churidar as well as his shoes, and the embroidery on Zara Jung’s flowing skirt—there is a constant balance of detail against the overall impact of the painting. 

This painting by Ravi Varma is another iconic depiction of the Nala-Damayanti story that the artist was so well versed with. He was aware that his patrons would understand his artistic liberties since they too were equally aware, and fond of the story. 

Ravi Varma was a passionate and obsessive painter of feminine beauty. His handling of this and other paintings made of Damayanti is therefore deliberate, making it clear that the dynamics of conversation from a literary source to a visual medium follow their own logic.

In this painting Varma anticipates the next move in this drama and prolongs the suspense by painting a snake at the bottom right near her foot. After a complex series of peripeteia the nightmare ends for Nala and Damayanti and they happily return to their kingdom and children.