Untitled

A. H. Müller

Among the early artists to be trained at the Madras School of Art, Archibald Hermann Müller's German heritage or southern upbringing did not constraint his depictions of northern and western Indian courts or of his evocation of oriental themes in a European academic style. The scene here is an intimate one that shows a bejewelled woman in a translucent sari gazing into or at an object, illuminated by a soft light from behind that highlights her face and form, while the room around her recedes into shadow. This interplay of light and texture demonstrates Müller’s remarkable technical finesse and command over his medium. At other points in his career, Müller painted Usha, the goddess of the dawn who features in the Bhagavata Purana as the wife of Aniruddh, Krishna’s grandson. The similarity of the composition of this work to others that he titled ‘Usha’ indicates that this depicts Usha identifying a portrait of her beloved.