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Lot Essay
This wonderfully expressive composition captures the devotional essence of the bhakti tradition, celebrating the eternal love of Krishna and Radha. Set within a richly detailed pastoral scene, the painting is infused with both spiritual intensity and visual delight.
Depicting a passage taken from the Garga Samhita (vv.2.10.1-25), this painting illustrates Krishna and Balarama accompanied by Radha as they return from pastures with the cows. This dusk scene is often referred to as the hour of “cow dust” (go-dhuli)(vv.2.10-24.25), Krishna is often described lyrically as being covered in the cows’ dust at the end of the day. Another Kishangarh painting of go-dhuli close in date to ours is illustrated in Ku and Lee 1994, p. 125, no. 90. Further, a painting related to this time of day is found in the Harvard Art Museum (acc.no.1960.160). Balarama often appears in paintings of Krishna during his time in Vrindavan as his younger brother and fellow cowherd. He is mentioned by name in this passage in the opening verse. We can assume that Radha, while often not mentioned by name, is the gopi who appears here. In Hindu tradition, Radha occupies the position of Krishna’s divine companion, wife, and lover.
The cows here are adorned with “glittering gold necklaces, a network of small bells, and tinkling anklets” (2.10.3) and “their horns were plated with gold” (v.2.10.5). This level of ornamentation reflects the regional aesthetic and the devotional attention lavished on sacred cattle in Kishangarh painting. The herd are painted in red tilaka with floral motifs along their sides. The Kishangarh tradition of painting their horses ready for battle has translated here into the painting of the cows but does not bear the same military connotations. Adding a comic element, several of the cows turn their heads to face the viewer. This successfully lightens the painting and adds a playful dynamic. They are further decorated with peacock feathers placed between their horns. The peacock feather is usually associated with Krishna, many narratives claim that it was given to him by Radha as a symbol of her love. Indeed, peacocks feature in the forest behind them. This strengthens Krishna’s affinity with the cows and heightens the underlying romantic tones of the painting.
Krishna is immediately recognisable in blue. In the Bhagavata Purana, one of the most important Hindu texts, he is described as “wearing a yellow garment, adorned with a wreath of flowers” (32.2). Radha, clothed in colours which complement Krishna’s robes, extends her open hand towards him, proffering a sprig. The lotus in Radha’s other hand has closed its petals in the dusk, signalling the end of the day.
In addition to the pair of lotuses clutched in the lovers’ hands, there is a pair of parakeets and monkeys in the forest behind them. This use of pairing often serves as an emphatic technique to hint at the romance within a piece. The forest landscape is lush and densely packed with many different shrubs and trees, this is alluded to in Garga Samhita in vv.11-13 where the types of trees are listed extensively emphasising the verdant nature of the setting.
In the foreground, cultivated lotus beds interrupt the foreshore at sharply cut angles, a compositional device frequently used in Kishangarh works to guide the viewer’s eye into the narrative. An earlier related composition is preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum (IS.40-1980), illustrated in Balraj Khanna, Krishna: The Divine Lover, London, 1997, no. 36. See also a festive Kishangarh scene sold at Bonhams, New York, 22 March 2024, lot 870, for a comparable treatment of devotional procession and bucolic splendor.
This painting fits within the Kishangarh style of the late eighteenth century. Artists such as Nihal Chand developed the distinctive Kishangarh style under the reign of Maharaja Savant Singh. The depiction of heightened physical beauty became a priority and “consorts Krishna and Radha were depicted together in idyllic landscape and palace settings” (Topsfield and Beach, 1991, p.96). The warm sunset colours of the sky are similar in a number of related paintings, one can be found in The Cincinnati Art Museum (acc.no. 2007.84). The elongated, almond-shaped eyes were typical of this period and can be seen in a painting of the Maharaja attributed to Nihal Chand in The Cleveland Museum of Art (acc.no.2001.172). In a turn of events that inversely mirrors Krishna and Radha’s journey, Savant Singh and his consort Bani Thani retired to Vrindavan. This could explain why there was such emphasis placed on these lyrical, poetic paintings under his reign.
Depicting a passage taken from the Garga Samhita (vv.2.10.1-25), this painting illustrates Krishna and Balarama accompanied by Radha as they return from pastures with the cows. This dusk scene is often referred to as the hour of “cow dust” (go-dhuli)(vv.2.10-24.25), Krishna is often described lyrically as being covered in the cows’ dust at the end of the day. Another Kishangarh painting of go-dhuli close in date to ours is illustrated in Ku and Lee 1994, p. 125, no. 90. Further, a painting related to this time of day is found in the Harvard Art Museum (acc.no.1960.160). Balarama often appears in paintings of Krishna during his time in Vrindavan as his younger brother and fellow cowherd. He is mentioned by name in this passage in the opening verse. We can assume that Radha, while often not mentioned by name, is the gopi who appears here. In Hindu tradition, Radha occupies the position of Krishna’s divine companion, wife, and lover.
The cows here are adorned with “glittering gold necklaces, a network of small bells, and tinkling anklets” (2.10.3) and “their horns were plated with gold” (v.2.10.5). This level of ornamentation reflects the regional aesthetic and the devotional attention lavished on sacred cattle in Kishangarh painting. The herd are painted in red tilaka with floral motifs along their sides. The Kishangarh tradition of painting their horses ready for battle has translated here into the painting of the cows but does not bear the same military connotations. Adding a comic element, several of the cows turn their heads to face the viewer. This successfully lightens the painting and adds a playful dynamic. They are further decorated with peacock feathers placed between their horns. The peacock feather is usually associated with Krishna, many narratives claim that it was given to him by Radha as a symbol of her love. Indeed, peacocks feature in the forest behind them. This strengthens Krishna’s affinity with the cows and heightens the underlying romantic tones of the painting.
Krishna is immediately recognisable in blue. In the Bhagavata Purana, one of the most important Hindu texts, he is described as “wearing a yellow garment, adorned with a wreath of flowers” (32.2). Radha, clothed in colours which complement Krishna’s robes, extends her open hand towards him, proffering a sprig. The lotus in Radha’s other hand has closed its petals in the dusk, signalling the end of the day.
In addition to the pair of lotuses clutched in the lovers’ hands, there is a pair of parakeets and monkeys in the forest behind them. This use of pairing often serves as an emphatic technique to hint at the romance within a piece. The forest landscape is lush and densely packed with many different shrubs and trees, this is alluded to in Garga Samhita in vv.11-13 where the types of trees are listed extensively emphasising the verdant nature of the setting.
In the foreground, cultivated lotus beds interrupt the foreshore at sharply cut angles, a compositional device frequently used in Kishangarh works to guide the viewer’s eye into the narrative. An earlier related composition is preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum (IS.40-1980), illustrated in Balraj Khanna, Krishna: The Divine Lover, London, 1997, no. 36. See also a festive Kishangarh scene sold at Bonhams, New York, 22 March 2024, lot 870, for a comparable treatment of devotional procession and bucolic splendor.
This painting fits within the Kishangarh style of the late eighteenth century. Artists such as Nihal Chand developed the distinctive Kishangarh style under the reign of Maharaja Savant Singh. The depiction of heightened physical beauty became a priority and “consorts Krishna and Radha were depicted together in idyllic landscape and palace settings” (Topsfield and Beach, 1991, p.96). The warm sunset colours of the sky are similar in a number of related paintings, one can be found in The Cincinnati Art Museum (acc.no. 2007.84). The elongated, almond-shaped eyes were typical of this period and can be seen in a painting of the Maharaja attributed to Nihal Chand in The Cleveland Museum of Art (acc.no.2001.172). In a turn of events that inversely mirrors Krishna and Radha’s journey, Savant Singh and his consort Bani Thani retired to Vrindavan. This could explain why there was such emphasis placed on these lyrical, poetic paintings under his reign.