A troupe of acrobats performing daring feats
Not on view
This painting depicts a troupe of fairground (mela) entertainers, consisting of five female acrobats suspended from a bamboo pole, accompanied by four male attendants who steady the pegged guy ropes while a drummer provides an accompaniment, and the supervisor of the troupe calls out instructions to those above. Both the women and men wear gold ear ornaments. The men also sport broad brimmed Thanjavur-style turbans; the troupe leader’s is especially handsome, being multicolored. The leader also wears a sword and carries a plumed and tasseled staff. Such entertainers were itinerant, earning their living by travelling to towns and villages on temple festival days to provide popular entertainment. This painting once formed part of an album of paintings of observed daily life commissioned by George Macartney (1737–1806), who served as Governor of Madras from 1781 to 1785. The album presumably returned with him to England in 1786, at the end of his governorship.
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