Lady With the Lamp

In a small heritage town of Karnataka, housed within a Royal art gallery, lies a breathtakingly beautiful painting that leaves both art connoisseurs and laymen spellbound.

The Lady with the Lamp | Source: Pinterest

The painting, "Lady With the Lamp," is so beautiful and magnificent in its colour and style that most people instantly attribute it to Raja Ravi Varma as the painter. However, the creator of this masterpiece is none other than the highly acclaimed artist S.L. Haldankar, with his twelve-year-old daughter Gita serving as the model. This exquisite painting is currently on display at the JayachamarajendraArt Gallery, located within the Jaganmohan Palace in the heritage city of Mysore.

Jayachamarajendra

To appreciate the full beauty of this painting, it's best viewed with the window of the tiny room closed. In the darkness of the room, the painting comes to life. The warm, golden glow of the lamp filtering through the fingers of the girl evokes a sense of awe in the visitors. The dark background of the painting serves to highlight the pink and lavender saree and the shimmering blouse worn by the subject. The captivating features of her face, immortalised by her father's art, continue to enthral admirers even today.

Sawalaram Lakshman Haldankar, a graduate of the JJ School of Arts, received training under renowned teachers. He mastered the genre of painting portraits in both oils and watercolours. This enchanting portrait of his daughter stands as a testament to his craftsmanship. Typically, artists prefer oils over watercolours for portraits due to the ease of covering mistakes with a few strokes of the brush while working with oils. Haldankar, however, painted this portrait to demonstrate that it's possible to create such distinguished portraits using watercolours flawlessly.

On a beautiful Diwali night, Gita, dressed resplendently in a simple saree, was lighting lamps. With her palm surrounding the flickering flame, her face was illuminated by the warm light. Haldankar, mesmerised by the elegance of this lovely sight, quickly picked up his brushes to capture the moment. He completed the portrait in just three days. The painting was aptly named, "The Glow of Hope," and is a part of a series with the theme "The Divine Glow." Haldankar also painted another watercolour, "The Divine Flame," with his other daughter Lilavati as his model. In this painting, too, he captured the radiance of the lamp's light on Lilavati's face.

Haldankar's works adorn the homes of many private collectors and the walls of museums within the country and abroad, including the National Gallery of Modern Art in Mumbai and Delhi, the Delhi Art Gallery, and the Moscow Academy of Art.

The portrait "The Divine Flame" | Source: theheritagelab

"The Glow of Hope" won the first prize in a competition held by the Royal family of Mysore and was later acquired by the Maharaja of Mysore, Sri Jayachamrajendra Wodeyar, adding to his vast collection of art. The masterpiece now holds a place of honour in the royal JayachamarajendraArt Gallery, which also houses several paintings by eminent artists like Raja Ravi Varma, Rabindranath Tagore, and the Dutch painter Rembrandt.

Maharaja Sri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar of Mysore | Source: Wikipedia

"The Lady with the Lamp," with its simplicity and beauty, continues to captivate art lovers from all over the world.