Who painted Kartikeya, from a Kalighat album?

Kartikeya, from a Kalighat album was painted by Unknown in 1890.

Where can I see Kartikeya, from a Kalighat album?

Kartikeya, from a Kalighat album is held by Cleveland Museum of Art.

What movement is Kartikeya, from a Kalighat album?

Kartikeya, from a Kalighat album is associated with Patna School of Painting.

Artwork

Kartikeya, from a Kalighat album

Unknown , 1890

Kartikeya, from a Kalighat album is an unspecified painting by the Patna School of Painting artist Unknown. It dates from 1890 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

About this work

Overview

The work portrays the Hindu deity Kartikeya, traditionally the god of war and son of Shiva and Parvati, seated upon his emblematic mount, a peacock. The figure is rendered with a relaxed pose, one leg crossed over the other, and is surrounded by the fan of the bird’s plumage, which forms a luminous backdrop.

Subject & Meaning

While Kartikeya is historically associated with martial triumph over the demon Taraka, this image recasts him as a fashionable urban figure. The deity’s trimmed moustache, neatly arranged hair, and the draped shawl suggest a genteel, almost aristocratic bearing, blending mythic authority with contemporary notions of elegance.

Technique & Style

Executed in the characteristic Kalighat school of 19th‑century Kolkata, the painting combines bold outlines with flat areas of colour. The figure’s European‑style buckled shoes and the stylised halo created by the peacock’s tail illustrate the hybrid visual language that merged indigenous iconography with colonial aesthetic cues.

Historical Context

Produced in a period when Bengali artists responded to British presence by adapting traditional religious subjects to modern dress, the piece reflects the cultural syncretism of colonial Calcutta. By dressing a mythic warrior in Western attire, the work comments on the shifting social mores and the interplay between local devotion and imported fashion.