Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Milkmaids and Expounds on the Virtue of Trees, from a Braj Bhagavata Purana

Description

When the milkmaids went to the Yamuna River to bathe, Krishna stealthily took their clothes and hid them in the treetops. Here, the blue-skinned Krishna sits in a tree playing his flute, waiting for the women to come to him. True devotees must shed all worldly inhibitions and approach their god with nothing to hide.

The narrow register above shows Krishna expounding on the virtue of trees to the other cowherds. The illustration closely follows the extensive text, written on the back in the vernacular language of Braj, even down to the detail of how they drank the sweet water of the Yamuna River.

Provenance

Dr. and Mrs. Robert S. Walzer, Georgetown, CT, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art (?–1986); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1986–)

Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Milkmaids and Expounds on the Virtue of Trees, from a Braj Bhagavata Purana

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c. 1650

Accession Number

1986.175

Medium

Gum tempera on paper

Dimensions

Overall: 21 x 33.5 cm (8 1/4 x 13 3/16 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Robert S. Walzer