2-746-744 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Umed Singh of Kota Hunting Lions, c. 1785-1790. A family of lions with two cubs is caught unawares by royal huntsmen amid a tangle of jungle by the side of a stream. The adult lions twist around, startled by the sound of the horn intended to drive them out of the safety of their glade. The men, other than the ruler at the left, have turbans camouflaged with leaves, and they surround the lions, ready to let spears and arrows fly. Before embarking on a costly finished painting, Indian artists often made preparatory sketches, in which they worked out the particulars of the composition. Whiter sections indicate areas where erasures and adjustments were made. Freer in execution, the drawings are often more evocative and exuberant than the more formal full-colour finished paintings.