Raja Ravi Varma

Also known as Iravivarmā, Ravi Varma

Indian painter from Kerala (1848–1906)

OverviewAI-generated

Raja Ravi Varma was a male painter and creator from the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor. Born in Kilimanoor in 1848, he worked primarily in India and specialized in the portrait genre within the field of Itihasa. He spoke and wrote in Malayalam, his native language, as well as English. His notable work includes the painting *Shakuntala*.

Varma died in Attingal in 1906. His name in his native language is രാജാ രവി വർമ്മ. His works are held in the collections of the Ashmolean Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Kowdiar Palace, and the National Gallery of Modern Art. Records indicate a count of 36 works associated with him.

Synthesized by Vinony from 18 facts across 2 sources: Wikidata, Europeana Sparql. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Family name: Varma
Gender: male
Citizenship: Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor
Place of birth: Kilimanoor
Place of death: Attingal
Occupation: creator
Languages spoken: English language
Native language: Malayalam
Notable work: Shakuntala
Field of work: Itihasa
Genre: portrait
Image: Ravivarma1b.jpg
Work location: India

Show 7 more facts

Commons category: Raja Ravi Varma
date of birth: 1848-04-29
date of death: 1906-10-02
Commons Creator page: Raja Ravi Varma
Commons gallery: Raja Ravi Varma
has works in the collection: Wellcome Collection
name in native language: രാജാ രവി വര്മ്മ

Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

Works in European collections

36 objects attributed to Raja Ravi Varma, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

~18 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Raja Ravi Varma ( Malayalam: [ɾaːd͡ʒaː ɾɐʋi ʋɐrmːɐ]) (29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906) was an Indian painter. His works are one of the best examples of the fusion of European academic art with a purely Indian sensibility and iconography. He greatly enhanced his reach and influence as a painter and public figure by making affordable lithographs of his paintings available to the public. His lithographs increased the involvement of common people with fine arts and defined artistic tastes. Furthermore, his religious depictions of Hindu deities and works from Indian epic poetry and Puranas have received critical acclaim. He was part of the royal family of Parappanad, Malappuram district.

Raja Ravi Varma was closely related to the royal family of Travancore of present-day Kerala state in India. Later in his life, two of his granddaughters were adopted into the royal family.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Raja Ravi Varma” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.