Sri Shanmukaha Subramania Swami 

Raja Ravi Varma painted Sri Shanmukaha Subramania Swami, an oil on canvas, in India at the turn of the 20th century. Varma here depicts a popular Hindu deity in a style accessible to a wide audience. Varma was a pioneer in Indian modernism. He was trained in European academic painting and combined those techniques with Indian subject matter. His paintings often featured gods, goddesses, and scenes from Hindu epics. Varma's images gained wide circulation through affordable oleographs, which democratized access to art and played a significant role in shaping Indian cultural identity. Varma's work was celebrated and collected by Indian elites, while at the same time the mass production of prints meant that his art acquired unprecedented reach across different social classes. To better understand Varma's place in Indian cultural history, you might consider consulting archives of Indian newspapers and magazines from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These sources can help illuminate the social and institutional context in which his art gained popularity.