Raja Ravi Varma (born in 1848 in Kerala -died in 1906) is perhaps responsible for single-handedly giving modern form and colour to Hindu Gods and Goddesses. He painted them all in vivid colours, with an European tinge in his brush. The popularity of his paintings gave the imagery such authenticity that later versions of Gods were referred to the "original" and either accepted or rejected depending on the level of similarities. An expensive commission artist even in those days, Raja Ravi Verma (winner at ther Vienna Exhibition) is also credited with the democratisation of art by printing oleographs of his Mythological paintings in his own litho-press, the Raja Ravi Verma Press in Lonavala (near Bombay). The press unfortunately is no more after a major fire in the 1970s. Today, Oleographs from his press are considered to be a collector's item with Osian's in Bombay having one of the largest known collection of Raja Ravi Verma oleographs.
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Raja_Ravi_Varma" class="extiw" title="w:en:Raja Ravi Varma"><span title="Indian painter from Kerala (1848–1906)">Raja Ravi Varma</span></a>
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