"Krishna and Balarma Fighting the Enemy", Folio from a Harivamsa (The Legend of Hari (Krishna))

Krishna and Balarama Fight the Enemy

Akbar was fascinated by various religions and ultimately formulated his own eclectic faith. A number of Hindu epics were translated and illustrated in his atelier.

It is interesting to compare this page with MMA 1985.34, which illustrates a similar scene. Both images convey the might of the opposing armies by presenting a mass of warriors, but their treatments of space differ radically. In the early work space is shallow and difficult to read. Here, however, the recession of forms in space is clearly conveyed: it begins with the foreground melee, articulated by means of contrasting pattern, color, and tone; continues into the relatively uncluttered middle ground, where the blue-skinned Krishna aims his arrow at the enemy; and concludes in a deep landscape in which the opposing troops muster. The artist has not yet adopted atmospheric recession or chiaroscuro, two European painterly methods that were soon to enter the repertoire of Mughal artists.

Steven M. Kossak in [Kossak 1997]

[ Hagop Kevorkian, New York, until 1928; sold to MMA]

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Indian Court Painting: 16th–19th Century," March 25–July 6, 1997, no. 11.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Krishna: Mythology and Worship," February 9–May 9, 2004.

Kossak, Steven M., ed. Indian Court Painting 16th–19th century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. no. 11, p. 38, ill. (color).