Among the European painters associated with the kingdom of
Travancore, Theodor Jensen is perhaps the best-known, his name frequently
mentioned alongside that of the celebrated Raja Ravi Varma. Jensen’s visit to
the Travancore court may well have marked a turning point in the early artistic
development of the young Ravi Varma. Yet, alongside Jensen’s influence, the
young artist—during his formative years in Thiruvananthapuram—would undoubtedly
have been exposed to the rich collection of European paintings housed within
the palace.
Among the many European artists who worked for the
Travancore royals, August Theodor Schoefft stands apart, both for the subjects
he chose to depict and for the remarkable technical brilliance evident in his
work. Schoefft arrived in Travancore in 1839 and was commissioned to paint
seven portraits of members of the royal family, along with several prominent
courtiers. His extraordinary gift for portraying children is particularly
evident in his imaginative portraits of Swathi Tirunal Rama Varma as a child.
Perhaps the most celebrated among Schoefft’s Travancore works is the painting depicting the young prince as a toddler, seated beside his aunt, the Regent Gowri Parvati Bayi, accompanied by his elder sister, Rukmini Bayi. The painting remains one of the finest visual records of nineteenth-century Travancore court portraiture.
To learn more about Schoefft’s Travancore commission, as
well as the other itinerant European artists who found patronage in the
kingdom, look out for my forthcoming book, The Forgotten Atelier.
Schoefft's signature and date (1839) in the painting
(detail).
