Raja Ravi Varma work up for sale in New York

New Delhi: A Raja Ravi Varma will be up for auction at Sotheby's New York sale of Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art on March 14. But before that, Sotheby's international team brings the painting to New Delhi to showcase it at the Leela Palace on February 24 and 25. The exhibition, which includes 16 paintings, also boasts pieces by Maqbool Fida Husain, Jehangir Sabavala and Francis Newton Souza.
The Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) untitled (Damayanti) is an oil-on-canvas piece estimated at $500,000-$700,000, showing Varma's skill at portraiture. Sotheby's has sold eight works by Varma so far. The top price for Sotheby's was achieved last March in New York with the sale of 'Untitled (Portrait of a young Woman in Russet and Crimson Sari)' achieved $586,000.
The record for a Varma work sold at auction is held by Pundoles. 'Radha in the Moonlight', 1890, was sold in November 2016 sale for $29,446,450.
Anu Ghosh-Mazumdar, head of department, Indian and Southeast Asian Art, maintained that the NY auction is characterised by its freshness and museum-quality lots brings together 2,000 years of Indian art under one roof.