Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar III

Gouache on paper.

In this posthumous portrait the Maharaja sits on an ivory chair of European design. A Victorian lamp fitting appears against the vivid green ground, itself an imported Western pigment. Having been relieved of his responsibilities as ruler by the British in 1831, Maharaja Krishnaraja (1794-1868) devoted much of his reign to devising ingenious new chess puzzles and board and card games.

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