The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Krishna Playing with the Gopis in the Yamuna

Krishna Playing with the Gopis in the Yamuna

c. 1770
gum tempera and gold on paper
Page: 24.8 x 17.8 cm (9 3/4 x 7 in.); Image: 23.5 x 16.6 cm (9 1/4 x 6 9/16 in.)
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.118
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Krishna playfully splashes one of the women who turns her face away.

Description

After Krishna raised Mount Govardhan, he began to play erotically with the girls of his village. Under a scorching sun, Krishna and three milkmaids enjoy the cooling waters of the Yamuna River. The women neatly stack their clothes on a nearby tree, and Krishna’s crown and scarf rest by the bank. Krishna playfully splashes one of the women, and she turns her face away. This scene evokes the joy of spending life in intimacy with the god Krishna.
  • ?–July 1984
    (Kundus, San Francisco, CA, sold to Ralph and Catherine Glynn Benkaim)
    July 1984–2001
    Ralph Benkaim [1914–2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA
    2001–2018
    Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Beverly Hills, CA, partial sale and gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2018–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Life and Exploits of Krishna in Indian Paintings (Indian art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 1, 2021-February 6, 2022).
  • {{cite web|title=Krishna Playing with the Gopis in the Yamuna|url=false|author=|year=c. 1770|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.118