Woman Raising her Hand Towards the Sun (Primary Title)
The Deccan’s sophisticated culture—combining Persian, Turkish, Indian, and Western elements—pervades this opulent painting from Golconda. Surrounded by a lavish album border of flowering plants, a stately woman with a doll-like Persian face and a European ruff collar stands beside a chair with her hands raised toward the golden sun. Tree-topped hills emerge from a flat green ground behind her, and Chinese-inspired clouds race past the sun’s brilliant rays. The picture’s meaning is not clear, but its composition was probably adapted from European prints of Christian saints experiencing divine visions. The dramatic palette is an Indian contribution to this eclectic style.
Kathleen Boone Samuels Memorial Fund
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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