Krishna and Radha with Their Confidantes: Page from a Dispersed Gita Govinda
ca. 1655–60
Medium
Ink and opaque watercolor on paper
Dimensions
Image: 9 1/8 × 7 1/4 in. (23.2 × 18.4 cm) Sheet: 10 1/4 × 8 3/8 in. (26 × 21.3 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture
India (Rajasthan, Mewar)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Cynthia Hazen Polsky, 1985
Accession Number
1985.398.12
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite page from a dispersed *Gita Govinda*, created by the Mewar court artist Manohar around 1655–60, captures the divine love between Krishna and Radha amid their confidantes in a lush, verdant landscape. Hailing from Rajasthan's Mewar region, it exemplifies the Rajput painting tradition, where Hindu devotional themes flourished under royal patronage during the reign of Rana Raj Singh. The *Gita Govinda*, a 12th-century poem Jayadeva, celebrates the passionate romance of these iconic figures from Vaishnava mythology, blending eroticism with spiritual longing—a motif central to Bhakti...