Page from a Ragamala Series: Lalita Ragini (Primary Title)
Unknown (Artist)
Rajasthani painters were frequently commissioned to create Ragamalas (Garlands of Ragas), sets of pictures depicting poems that describe the moods evoked by musical modes called ragas. Rendered in a typical 18th-century Jaipur palette dominated by light magenta, pink, and white, this painting depicts the poignant Lalita Ragini. As a handsome hero departs the bedchamber of his beloved at dawn, the early morning sun, painted with a human face, breaks through misty clouds at the upper left. Standing before a light green field, holding flower garlands in his hands, the hero remembers the previous night’s passions; he glances back at his beloved, who lies asleep on a couch. A maid cools her mistress with a fan, modestly pulling a scarf over her own face to avoid the hero’s gaze. A groom, a horse, and a musician wait patiently near the staircase in the foreground.
Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Gift of Paul Mellon
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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