Important Notice

THE PRESENT LOT is a rare oil painting by Raja Ravi Varma illustrating the welcoming party for the 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, Richard Temple- Grenville, on his official visit to Trivandrum, the capital of Travancore, a princely state in Southern India, in 1880. Temple-Grenville was the Governor-General of Madras from 1875 to 1880. Here, Visakham Thirunal, the younger brother of the Maharaja Ayilyom Thirunal of Travancore,... THE PRESENT LOT is a rare oil painting by Raja Ravi Varma illustrating the welcoming party for the 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, Richard Temple- Grenville, on his official visit to Trivandrum, the capital of Travancore, a princely state in Southern India, in 1880. Temple-Grenville was the Governor-General of Madras from 1875 to 1880. Here, Visakham Thirunal, the younger brother of the Maharaja Ayilyom Thirunal of Travancore, receives the Duke, who is accompanied by his aide-de-camp and a few British army officers. Ravi Varma was invited to document this historical event, painting "the moment when Buckingham alighted from the splendid barge, which must have undoubtedly brought him through the waterways of Kerala." (Rupika Chawla, Raja Ravi Varma: Painter of Colonial India, Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 2010, p. 70)

The Maharaja is seen standing behind his brother, and the building in which they stand bears the image of a conch shell, the symbol of the state of Travancore, as well as a welcoming banner for the Duke. It is likely that the ceremony depicted in the present lot took place at the Vallakadavu Boathouse, which was built in the 1820s and served as an important waterway hub for travel and cargo activity during the Travancore era. "Historical records reveal that the 'boattupura', as it is known to the locals, was used by the stately barges of the Travancore kings. The royal parties which went picnicking in the Veli Lake used to set sail from the boathouse. The priests, scholars and nobility who used to come to Thiruvananthapuram from far and near, used to alight here." (T Nandakumar, The Hindu, 9 January 2004, online)

According to Erwin Neumayer and Christine Schelberger, during the Duke's visit to Travancore, he was eager to meet Ravi Varma, a fact that made the Maharaja jealous. This visit ultimately turned out to be disastrous for Ravi Varma. "When the Duke met Ravi Varma in the presence of the king, he asked him to sit with them, which, according to the custom of the land was unthinkable. RV declined to sit in the presence of the king and the three, the governor, the king, and the painter, remained standing while talking. RV knew that he was now out of favour with the king and left Trivandrum never to come back during the lifetime of the king." (Erwin Neumayer and Christine Schelberger eds., Raja Ravi Varma, Portrait of an Artist: The Diary of C Raja Raja Varma, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 300)

Upon completion, the present lot was gifted to the Duke as a token of appreciation. After his death, the painting passed on to his eldest daughter Baroness Kinloss. In the 1920s, it changed hands and became a part of Castle House, Buckingham, the offices of Buckinghamshire County Council, and remained there until 1974, when a private collector acquired it.

RAJA RAVI VARMA was born on 29 April 1848 in Kilimanur into an aristocratic family, and was closely associated with the royal family of Travancore from a young age. He had no formal education in art, and was largely taught by his uncle Raja Raja Varma, who himself learned from Alangiri Naidu, a gifted portrait artist in the Travancore court. It was through the support of Maharaja Ayilyom Thirunal of Travancore (pictured in the present lot) that Ravi Varma's pursuit of art developed into a lifelong passion. The Maharaja directed Ravi Varma to study and copy the European and indigenous paintings displayed at the palace, learn from court painters, and try his hand at oil colours.

Ravi Varma's path to success was strewn with obstacles. It was uncommon for members of the aristocracy to take up a profession, and he grappled with the idea of an artistic career for a long time. Battling personal demons aside, court painters were unwilling to train him. But Ravi Varma succeeded with talent and determination. He received his first commission from a sub-judge of the Calicut Court in 1870, and shortly after, was awarded the 'Veerashringhala' by the Maharaja of Travancore.

In his later career, Ravi Varma focussed more on classical subjects from Hindu mythology and religion. However, around the time of this painting, he was highly sought after among the Indian royalty, including the Maharaja Sayajirao III, the Gaekwad of Baroda, as well as the British officials living in India. As an aristocrat himself, Ravi Varma was often invited to state occasions to record the official ceremonies on canvas. In fact, a year after the present lot was painted, Ravi Varma was invited by Sir T Madhava Rao, the British Regent of the State of Baroda, to paint the ceremonial portrait of the Gaekwad. In later years, he gained recognition among noted British royalty and officials, including Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India (1898-1905) and the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, who took great pleasure in Ravi Varma's works and acquired two of them during his visit to India in 1875-1876. "Just a year before his death, Ravi Varma had accompanied the Maharaja of Mysore and the Prince of Wales to witness the famous Khedda in the forests. Among his very last paintings were those made on Khedda operations; one of the paintings shows huge tents of the royal entourage with a motor car in the foreground." (Giridhar Khasnis, "Portrait of an artist," Deccan Herald, 22 April 2017, online)

During his early years at the Travancore court, Ravi Varma - with the encouragement of the Maharaja and R Chisholm of the Madras Art School - submitted his works for the Madras Fine Arts Exhibition in 1873. In this exhibition, Ravi Varma was awarded the Governor's Gold Medal for Nair Lady at her Toilet - one of the paintings later presented to the Prince of Wales. Given Ravi Varma's growing reputation as an exemplary portrait artist, it is no surprise that the Duke favoured him, and even went on to purchase his painting, Shakuntala Patralekhan, which was entered at the Madras Fine Arts Exhibition in 1876. A few years later, the Duke also sat for his official portrait by Ravi Varma, which was commissioned by the British administration for the Government House in Madras, and now hangs in the Raj Bhavan in Ooty. "By 1880, Ravi Varma had already perfected the balance between a convincing visual image and a swiftness of execution that would soon complete an image. Buckingham made an observation that he was amazed at the rapidity with which Ravi Varma worked and "though he had given no less than eighteen sittings to an eminent continental artist, he had not produced half so faithful as the Indian artist had done??"." (Chawla, pp. 69.70)

Although he left the Travancore court after the ceremonial events depicted in the present lot, Ravi Varma continued to enjoy the favours of the royalty and nobility in India. In the years that followed, "Ravi Varma's reputation had soared: as colonial India's finest Indian artist; as a pioneer in employing human models to illustrate Hindu gods and goddesses; and as a skilful trendsetter who fused European academic techniques with Indian sensibilities." (Khasnis, online)

With his growing preoccupation with painting subjects from Hindu mythology, Ravi Varma and his brother set up the Ravi Varma Lithographic Press in Bombay. Although it was short-lived, it managed to make many of his paintings, primarily of Hindu gods and goddesses, accessible to the Indian masses. Even today, 112 years after his death, Ravi Varma continues to be a well-known household name and is recognised as one of the early pioneers of modern Indian art.

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