Most coveted painting of Raja Ravi Verma brought back to India

Most coveted painting of Raja Ravi Verma brought back to India

On July 14, the most expensive painting of Raja Ravi Verma was unveiled to the public by Osian, India’s ace archive and auction house during Osian Cinefan Film Festival at New Delhi. The painting was acquired by Neville Tuli, Chairman Osian from the Bonhams Auction at a whopping amount of rupees 6 crores approx.—the costliest Ravi Verma painting, so far. Surprisingly, the painting was unveiled by two manual workers, done so to uphold the painter’s wish to reach out to the common mass.

This vintage oil on canvas painting, dated 1881, showcases a regal event with the Maharaja of Travancore and his younger brother welcoming the then Governor-general of Madras on his official visit to Trivandrum in 1880. The painting waxes eloquent with the British Raj serenade. The bucolic setting of the painting strikes a crescendo to trip the viewer down the memory lane of erstwhile Kerala. The exquisite painting spans an imposing dimension of 106 × 146 cm, most appeasing to the eyes. The painter being the most sought-after painter of colonial India and also an aristocrat himself was often a guest to state occasions attended by British high officials and the Indian nobility. And then Ravi Verma came up with such canvas paintings to canvass his thoughts.

The tortuous provenance of this painting is rather obscure, changing hands for perhaps six times in England till it came back to its country of origin.

Interestingly, a large number of Raja Ravi Verma oleographs have been earlier acquired by Osian as well. Osian is hell-bent to bring back India’s lost and pilfered treasures. Even Government of India recognized its laudable efforts and accorded some tax reliefs. Neville Tuli, Founder Chairman Osian’s harped on the fact – ‘It is very important to bring back to India part of its artistic cultural heritage’. Osianama with its exotic vintage repertoire vows for a comprehensive stolid collection in a bid to inculcate in Indian masses a sound knowledge-base about art. This painting to be housed in Osianama will be thrown open to the public in mid-2009 in Mumbai.

History

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In 1880 Raja Ravi Varma (India, 1848-1906), the leading Indian artist of his day, painted the image of the Maharaja of Travancore and his younger brother welcoming Richard Temple-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, Governor-General of Madras (1875-80), on his official visit to Trivandrum in 1880. The picture (measuring 106 x 146 cm.) is estimated to sell for £50,000-70,000.

As the most sought-after academic painter of colonial India who was an aristocrat himself, Ravi Varma was often invited to state occasions by British high officials and the Indian nobility, often recording their activities on his canvases.

Matthew Thomas of Bonhams’ Islamic and Indian Department comments: ‘This painting provides us with an almost intimate snapshot of the official contact between the British and the Indian princes Since the end of the last war, if not before, it has perhaps been orthodox to deride Varma's work as rather kitsch and unaccomplished, both as a result of nationalist, anti-colonial feeling, and the opinions of Indian modernist painters, whose style and artistic intentions were naturally very different. But as in the case of British Victorian painters the subject matter and its handling can often blind us to their enormous technical facility..”


The history or provenance of this picture leads from Richard Temple-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (1823-1889) to Baroness Kinloss, the Duke's daughter (who owned part of the Stowe estate in 1894). It was then perhaps given to a local solicitor and town clerk by Baroness Kinloss; or otherwise given to Buckinghamshire County Council directly where it stayed in Castle House, Buckingham, the offices of Buckinghamshire County Council, from the 1920s until 1974 and from there to a private UK collection from 1974 when Castle House was bought by the present owner of the picture.


Richard Temple-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (1823-1889), inherited the Stowe estate in Buckinghamshire from his father, the 2nd Duke, who had died bankrupt. The 3rd Duke, who had the longest running non-repetitive surname in the Guinness Book of Records (Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville), attempted to restore the Buckingham name and fortunes.

He was determined in his efforts to return Stowe to its former glory and came back from Italy in 1865 with paintings, porcelain and other works of art. Queen Victoria was so impressed that she remarked to Disraeli that no one 'more truly deserves re-institution in the ancient family seat than the Duke'. He was briefly Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1867-68. When Disraeli returned to office in 1874, the Duke was appointed Governor-General of Madras and arrived in India in 1875 with his three daughters, following his first wife's death In 1880 Raja Ravi Varma (India, 1848-1906), the leading Indian artist of his day, painted the image of the Maharaja of Travancore and his younger brother welcoming Richard Temple-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, Governor-General of Madras (1875-80), on his official visit to Trivandrum in 1880. The picture (measuring 106 x 146 cm.) is estimated to sell for £50,000-70,000.

As the most sought-after academic painter of colonial India who was an aristocrat himself, Ravi Varma was often invited to state occasions by British high officials and the Indian nobility, often recording their activities on his canvases.

Matthew Thomas of Bonhams’ Islamic and Indian Department comments: ‘This painting provides us with an almost intimate snapshot of the official contact between the British and the Indian princes Since the end of the last war, if not before, it has perhaps been orthodox to deride Varma's work as rather kitsch and unaccomplished, both as a result of nationalist, anti-colonial feeling, and the opinions of Indian modernist painters, whose style and artistic intentions were naturally very different. But as in the case of British Victorian painters the subject matter and its handling can often blind us to their enormous technical facility..”


The history or provenance of this picture leads from Richard Temple-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (1823-1889) to Baroness Kinloss, the Duke's daughter (who owned part of the Stowe estate in 1894). It was then perhaps given to a local solicitor and town clerk by Baroness Kinloss; or otherwise given to Buckinghamshire County Council directly where it stayed in Castle House, Buckingham, the offices of Buckinghamshire County Council, from the 1920s until 1974 and from there to a private UK collection from 1974 when Castle House was bought by the present owner of the picture.


Richard Temple-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (1823-1889), inherited the Stowe estate in Buckinghamshire from his father, the 2nd Duke, who had died bankrupt. The 3rd Duke, who had the longest running non-repetitive surname in the Guinness Book of Records (Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville), attempted to restore the Buckingham name and fortunes.

He was determined in his efforts to return Stowe to its former glory and came back from Italy in 1865 with paintings, porcelain and other works of art. Queen Victoria was so impressed that she remarked to Disraeli that no one 'more truly deserves re-institution in the ancient family seat than the Duke'. He was briefly Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1867-68. When Disraeli returned to office in 1874, the Duke was appointed Governor-General of Madras and arrived in India in 1875 with his three daughters, following his first wife's death