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Krishna Venugopala. Bikaner,circa 1750. 17.5cm by 10cm.

The painting of Bikaner showed stronger Mughal influences than other Rajput kingdoms due to its isolation from them, coupled with high regard  for the Mughal court which then controlled it.  Bikaner painters became familiar with the workshops employed by the Mughals, and were deeply influenced.  Early Bikaner painting is often virtually indistinguishable - truly "Provincial Mughal" - though the passage of time soon saw increased cross-fertilisation, resulting in paintings such as this.  This painting is Mughal in its use of colour.  The Bikaner pallette seldom used the primary colours so beloved of Rajput art.  Instead we see the muted tones preferred by this kalam or school alone – at the top of the painting the hazy and muted cloudscape, the grey middle area framing Krishna, the pale pink of Krishna’s dhoti, the subdued greens of the low-lying landscape, the repeating grey of the lotus pool, and the pale-coloured lotus blossom itself.  Rajput in influence is the monotone coloured plane for a background, but most especially the treatment of Krishna – stylized according to the Rajput norm, best represented by Krishna’s eye-shape*, with the Mughal preference for naturalistic realism held in check.

*This shape of eye may remind the viewer of Jodhpur or even Kishangharh, however, this painting is absolutely typical of Bikaner at this time, when diminutive paintings of fluting Krishna with this feature and in this exact style were very popular amongst the nobility and wealthy merchants of this isolated desert state.