Picture: Shri Krishn and Radha by Unknown Artist

 

I found above picture randomly on the internet. This picture of Shri Krishna and Radha is so nice and the artist must be so good. But, apart from loving this picture big time, I could not stop myself from noticing the similarity in the faces of these two!

During the recently undergoing IPL Cricket tournament, I heard someone saying that MS Dhoni does not have a large number of ‘shots’ in his arsenal like some other veteran batsmen. I think the idea is that if we watch any player play multiple times, after a while we can notice his style of playing and shot selection and can even make a list. Understood. After looking at above picture, I could see a parallel. How many “different” faces of kids can an artist draw? It seems as if the artist first drew Krishna and then when he/she started drawing Radha, she started looking “same to same”; and hence the artist stretched the cheeks and now it seems she is holding “rasgullas” in her cheeks, like kids do.

I had also read somewhere that giving right size to fingers in portraits is often a challenge to artists; and here too I think his right hand fingers are slightly longer than the left?  

In this picture, their smiles, the way they are sitting, the way Radha is a little bent towards Krishna is so adorable. Or the way Krishna’s belly is a bit bulged, like it happens in kids. Or the way Radha and Krishna both appear to be “looking at” the “photographer” (viewer) is so adorable too.

I am sure every time we see this picture, we can smile and feel their love which is an expression of divinity.  The artist has become immortal with this picture. Hats off and lot of respect to the anonymous painter.

- Rahul