KOLKATA: A big canvas that Jamini Roy had created in 1950, which had been in a private collection since then, will be auctioned for the first time in Mumbai on Wednesday. The pre-auction price has been kept at Rs 20 lakh. The surfacing of this painting in the public domain has created a lot of excitement — not only because it is a national treasure that cannot go out of the country but also because the painting is of Buddha, a figure Roy was not known to paint often.
The canvas is 122cmx71cm, making it one of the larger ones of the Navratna artist. It is a tempera on cloth painting and shows Buddha in a meditative state, eyes half closed, on his lotus seat. The style reminds one of Tibetan thangka.
“Roy is not known to have painted too many Buddhas. Perhaps the motivation to draw the Buddha was the same as what inspired him to draw a Christ,” said art historian R Shivakumar.
AstaGuru will be conducting the auction.
