“Shakuntala – Looks of Love”
“Shakuntala – Looks of Love” is a whimsical oil on canvas painting by the Malayali Indian artist, Raja Ravi Varma, from 1870. Varma depicts Shakuntala, a character from the Mahabaratha, one of the two major Sanskrit epic stories from India. Shakuntala is the mother of Emperor Bharata who founded the Bhārata dynasty.
In this piece, Shakuntala is pretending to remove a thorn from her foot. Secretly, she is looking for her lover, Dushyantha. Varma painted Shakuntala many times. The Mahabaratha is the longest Indian epic story with 1.8 million words. It has about ten times more words than both the Iliad and Odyssey combined.
Raja Ravi Varma is considered by many to be the greatest Indian artist of all time. He is credited with bridging the style from traditional Indian art to European academic art.
“Shakuntala – Looks of Love” is currently in the collections of the Sri Chitra Art Gallery in Trivandrum, Kerala, India, along with many of his other works.
For more on Raja Ravi Varma, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
