Wadiyar Portraits in Mysuru Style

Commemorative coronation photographs and paintings occupied a singular place in the pictography of the nobility. Portraits were usually commissioned to commemorate special events. One such important event was the Coronation. 

The portrait apart from its status as keeper of memories, was also, for the Wadiyar kings as it was rulers elsewhere across the country, an essential part of the accouterments of the Blue-blooded nobility and the wealthier merchant classes.

Raghu Dharmendra, curator of Ramsons Kala Pratishtana (RKP) mentions in his dissertation, ‘Portraiture – In Surapura and Mysore Paintings - a Comparative Study,’ that at least a 1000 portraits of Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar existed many painted in oils, inlaid work that used ivory, silver relief portraits apart from early daguerreotype photographs as well as lithographic prints.

The tradition of painting historical events continues to this day. The last scion of the Royal House of Mysuru, the Late Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar along with his sisters and their husbands has been painted as several individual portraits by M. Ramanarsayya, the former Superintendent of Jaganmohan Palace.

It is with the intention of keeping this tradition alive, that Ramsons Kala Pratishtana (RKP) first commissioned artist K.S. Shreehari in 2014 to paint a classical portrait in the Mysore style of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar based on the photographs of 2013 Navaratri Khas Darbar.

This was followed by commissioning artist Manish Verma to recreate a Mysore style painting using a photograph of the Sri Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar. 

This classic Mysore style portraiture shows the king accoutered in his royal vestments and Mysore peta adorning his head while his posture follows the classic from that can be seen in many of the portraits of the present king’s ancestors. He is seated on the silver Bhadrasana which suggests that he has just been invested with the (symbolic) royal authority of Mysore Kingdom, the Maharaja of Mysore. 

-R.G. Singh
Secretary, Ramsons Kala Pratishtana

This is an edited version of an article that appeared in 'Star of Mysore' on 27 May 2015. You can read the complete article here.