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Krishna as a Child Stealing Butter, folio from the devotional text of the Bhagavata Purana
India, Punjab Hills, kingdom of Kangra or Guler
Not on view
In the center of this work, Yashoda (Krishna’s foster mother) turns as Balarama (Krishna’s brother) pulls her shawl, and while she is distracted, Krishna reaches into the pot at her feet to steal freshly churned butter. The composition of this painting presents the various figures as if they were standing on a stage bracketed by green pillars. Yashoda twists her statuesque body, giving it a sense of three-dimensionality, and her face is shown in perfect profile. The formal elegance of late Kangra paintings such as this one is the product of active and well-patronized workshops that drew talent from the nearby Guler court atelier, where many of the works in this exhibition were created a generation or two earlier.
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