Radha and Krishna in the Grove

Title of Work: Radha and Krishna in the Grove

Artist: not listed on the website

Date: c. 1780

Culture: Indian

Medium: Paint on paper

Dimensions: 5 1/8 in. x 6 3/4 in. and (13 x 17 cm)

Location: Victoria and Albert Museum, London

I have chosen the art work on page 93 from chapter 3. It is called Radha and Krishna in the Grove. In the art work what I see is an example of the delicate poetic style that describes God Krishna and his better half Radha in Indian Culture. The medium for this art work is painting, opaque watercolor on paper. Radha is shown in a gold-colored skirt and bodice with a transparent red veil sits embracing Krishna on a bed of plantain leaves. In the background are a grove of trees, one with pink flowers, another entwined by a thick creeper. Egrets and plantain trees are seen on the bank of a stream filled with red and pink lotuses and leaves.

The images which serve as a symbolic background are, in each case, taken from Hindi and Sanskrit poetry. Particularly common symbols for physical enchantment were the lotus plants which appear, nodding and swaying in the stream. The artwork emphasized lovers sitting by a stream which called to mind the same exquisite plant with its delicate leaves and matchless blossom of the lotus flower. Besides the lotus, flowering trees were also regarded as symbolic. Their spear-shaped branches, laden with flowers, being treated as poetic parallels for upsurging love. The waxen stems of plantains were other images which brought to mind the absent lovers, while their large cool leaves were often used in poetry as romantic symbols for a girl's smooth thighs. Even more common as an image for embracing lovers was the creeper entwined