The Holy Family

$495
Item Code: OS10
Specifications:
Oil on Canvas with 24 Karat GoldArtist: Bhagwan
Dimensions 36.0 inches X 48.0 inches
Handmade
Handmade
Free delivery
Free delivery
Fully insured
Fully insured
100% Made in India
100% Made in India
Fair trade
Fair trade
This painting, a large size canvas rendered using in characteristic Mysore art style colours for delineating figures and forms, and metal foils and beads, for ornaments and jewellery and for highlighting special areas, such as the border of sari, a canvas for a temple-wall, domestic shrine or drawing hall, represents the Shiva family known in the tradition as the holy family comprising Lord Shiva himself, his consort Parvati, two sons, Karttikeya and Ganesha, and the mounts of all four, Shiva’s Nandi, Parvati’s lion, Karttikeya’s peacock, and Ganesha’s mouse. The family sometimes also includes Virabhadra, Shiva’s manifestation born of his wrath, and Bana, an asura-devotee of Shiva, he loved and adopted as his son. A contemporary masterpiece, in its theme and style it reveals flavour of classicism especially in portraying the Himalayan ambience and in capturing the mood of the portrayed figures, demeanour of their mounts and the overall mythicism. The painting is outstanding in representing emotional disposition of each figure, Shiva, Parvati, Karttikeya or Ganesha, or their mounts.

The Shiva family is seated on a hill’s outcrop shaped like a couch around the Mount Kailash, Shiva’s permanent abode, which a cottage-like structured – thatched and raised, hill-part unambiguously suggests. Lord Shiva and Parvati are seated in the centre while their two sons, Karttikeya and Ganesha, flank on sides. On Parvati’s left is the six-faced Karttikeya carrying a bow and arrow, and on Shiva’s right, the elephant-faced four-armed Ganesha carrying a battle-axe, noose and a tray full of laddus, his chosen food, and the fourth, held in ‘abhaya’. Karttikeya’s mount peacock has been painted perching just below where Karttikeya is seated, while the tiny mouse of Ganesha has been represented as leaping and jumping around its master’s feet. Figures of both, Karttikeya and Ganesha, have been lavishly bejewelled with gold ornaments studded with precious stones – pearls, rubies, emeralds, sapphires among others. Karttikeya is wearing a crown composed of six apexes, each to cover one of his six faces. The crown of Ganesha is not so complicated. It comprises just one tower. Ganesha is putting on a yellow ‘antariya’ exactly like his father, while Karttikeya’s is reddish maroon having resemblance with his mother’s sari which except its border rendered in gold-zari has an identical dye.

The four-armed blue-bodied Shiva – Mangala-murti, the Blissful One, is seated with Parvati on his left. Strangely, save an armlet he does not have any gold on his person yet with an exceptional glow on his face he dominates the canvas. The artist has clad him in Vishnu-like ‘pitambara’ and a garland of Parijata flowers but not without his usual tiger-skin which he has wrapped around his waist like his loincloth over the ‘pitambara’, laces of rudraksha-beads which adorn his neck, breast and wrists, and snakes that hold his matted hair, lay across from his left shoulder to the right side of the waist alternating ‘yajnopavit’ and adorn his shoulders and neck. With one of his hands he is holding Parvati, and with the other, Ganesha. In other two hands he is carrying his trident with damaru – double drum, attached to it, and an axe. Tri-netra, tripunda and crescent are other attributes that the artist has used for defining Shiva’s form.

A kind of blissfulness defines Parvati’s face. Her contentment, perhaps for being with Shiva and her sons, is absolute, and the same reveals in her sitting posture, the right leg placed on her left defined in iconographic tradition as ‘lalitasana’ – a posture of complete ease. With an oval face, large eyes with arched eye-brows, sharp features and a well defined neck Parvati’s figure reveals unique beauty of form. She has been represented as wearing a deep red silk sari with gold border and light pink blouse and rich gold jewellery inlaid with precious stones, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and pearls among others. Besides the jewellery for neck, breast, arms, wrists and feet she is putting on also a towering majestic crown and splendid girdle.

This description by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr. Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes on the aesthetics of literature and is the author of numerous books on Indian art and culture. Dr. Daljeet is the curator of the Miniature Painting Gallery, National Museum, New Delhi. They have both collaborated together on a number of books.


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Oil painting technique – India centric

Oil painting is the most interesting technique in art. Unlike other paintings or art forms, oil painting is a process in which colored pigments are painted on the canvas with a drying oil medium as a binder. This medium helps colors blend beautifully to create layers and also makes them appear rich and dense. Several varieties of oil are used in this painting such as sunflower oil, linseed oil, etc., and depending on the quality of the oil, a particular consistency of the paint is developed. With the use of an oil medium, the painting gets a natural sheen on the surface which appears extremely attractive. India is famous for its old tradition of making oil paintings. This art form was brought by Europeans in the 18th century and is now practiced by almost all well-known artists. Nirmal, a small tribal town in the state of Telangana is the center of traditional oil paintings in India where the local people practice it with dedication. Most Indian artists still use the traditional technique of oil painting.

Canvas of the required size is prepared

The artists use either a wood panel or canvas made from linen or cotton. Sometimes the canvas is stretched onto the wooden frame to form a solid base, or cardboard may be used. The canvas is coated with a layer of white paint or chalk mixed with animal glue. This mixture is then smoothed and dried to form a uniform, textured surface. The wooden panel is more expensive and heavier but its solidity is an advantage in making detailed paintings with ease.
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Sketch is drawn on the canvas

Now the artist starts to draw the subject of the painting on the canvas using the actual charcoal or a charcoal pencil. Sometimes, he may sketch with thinned paint as well.
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Oil paint is applied using paint brushes or palette knives

Now that the rough sketch is prepared, the artist is now ready to paint. Oil paint, a special paint that contains particles of pigments suspended in a drying oil (usually linseed oil), is again mixed with oil to make it thinner for applying it on the canvas. Proper consistency of the paint is maintained to avoid its breakage. The most important rule for the application of oil paint is “Fat over lean” in which the first layer of paint is thin and later, thicker layers are applied. This means that each additional layer of paint contains more oil. This results in getting a stable paint film. Traditionally, paint was applied using paint brushes but now the artists also use palette knives to create crisp strokes. To paint using this technique, the edge of the palette knife is used to create textured strokes that appear different from that of a paintbrush. Sometimes, oil paints are blended simply using fingers for getting the desired gradation.
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Smaller oil paintings, with very fine detail, are relatively easier to paint than larger ones. The most attractive feature of these paintings is the natural shiny appearance that is obtained on the surface because of the use of oil paint. The blending of colors looks extremely realistic and this is the reason why oil paintings are loved by everyone throughout the world.
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