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Raja Ravi Varma was India’s first and best known popular painter. He was born to an important family in the princely state of Travancore in southern Kerela and this enabled him to develop skills in both Indian and European painting techniques. Partly in response to the demand for his oils, Varma established India’s first chromo-lithographic press, in Bombay in 1891. Varma’s innovative depictions of the characters from Indian epics and myths, in a neo-classical style, laid the basis for Indian popular painting. His designs are still revered by today’s artists for the calendar, periodical and advertising markets. (Stephen Inglis, 1998)

Born: 1848
Died: 1906