The Love-Laden Pichhwai Paintings Of Shrinathji Of Nathdwara
Famous Pichhwai art painted using real gold and silver by time-honored artists near and around the Nathdwara Haveli-temple of Shrinathji.
P
ichhwai paintings ooze richness and royalty much like the well pampered Shrinathji, the deity which is invariably their theme.
These are a very traditional genre of art that was born when some painter-devotees started painting landscapes on cloth to decorate the background of Shrinathji’s idol in the famous Nathdwara temple.These paintings were changed frequently and the old ones which were discarded were initially stored but they soon started to sell.
Painters then started to paint image of Shrinathji on the discarded sheets on the section of cloth that went behind the idol of Shrinathji and was therefore left blank. These then started selling as complete paintings known as Pichhwais because they were painted on the cloth obtained from peeche (back) of Shrinathji.
Moreover artists also started making hurried sketches of Shrinathji in different attires and jewelry in which he is adorned at different festivals and even many times during a usual day. These sketches were incorporated into the main Pichhwai paintings in multiple ways.
So a complete genre of art was born with its own style, iconography and even the recipe for colors because Shrinathji could not be painted with any substance impure. Similarly the two metals considered the purest – gold and silver – were used in Pichhwai paintings to depict anything golden or white.
The Pichhwai paintings in our collection are all painted by these artists of Nathdwara whose forefathers might as well may have contributed to the birth of this beautiful art genre the Pichhwai Art.
