A recreation of famous painter Raja Ravi Varma's portrait is viral online with the false claim that it shows an actual painting by the artist. It is being shared alongside pictures of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci to draw a comparison between the popularity of the two paintings. BOOM found that the first painting is not by Raja Ravi Varma at all, but is a recreation of his original work.
Raja Ravi Varma was a renowned Indian painter in the 19th century known for depicting scenes from Indian mythology in his work. Known as the Father of Modern Indian Art, his paintings are believed to have inspired filmmakers like Dadasaheb Phalke and Baburao Painter. Ravi Varma passed away on October 2, 1906.
The claim, which intends to shed light on how "marketing and propaganda lobbies bias" is being shared with the caption, "Here are two portraits. One is by Raja Ravi Verma, which perhaps, you have never seen. Another is by Leonardo da Vinci which you must have seen million times. Now think about how marketing and propaganda lobbies bias our minds. *All your choices are based on what lobbies."
Click here to view the tweet and here for an archive.
The post is also circulating on Facebook.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the photo does not show Raja Ravi Varma's original painting, but is a recreation of his painting 'Radha in the Moonlight' featuring actor Swathi Reddy.
A reverse image search of the first image showing the alleged painting by Raja Ravi Varma led us to the Facebook page of actor Swathi Reddy where she had shared the same photo. Uploaded on June 16, 2019, the caption of the image read, "Radha in the Moonlight | Raja Ravi Varma Recreation series by Sruvam Photography🙂 Old school girl. #Guts"
The same photo was also shared on her Instagram profile. See here.
We looked at the photo closely and found the watermark of Sruvam Studios on it.
A search for the page on Instagram led us to a page called House of Sruvam that had shared the same image on June 16.
House of Sruvam is a wedding photography and videography service based in Hyderabad. According to the caption, the photo was part of a series where the studio recreated Raja Ravi Varma's paintings. The caption also tagged Swathi Reddy's Instagram page.
The post also shared a side-by-side comparison between the recreation and the original painting.
Raja Ravi Varma had sent Lady in the Moonlight to the Mysore Palace in 1889, where several of his paintings were already on display. Another version of the recreation by House of Sruvam can be seen here.