Rare works by Raja Ravi Verma touted to fetch Rs 3.8 crore at Sotheby's auction

NEW YORK: Raja Ravi Varma's celestial nymph 'Tillottama', M F Hussain's 'Nayika' and S H Raza's rarely seen 'Ville Provencale' will be some of the Indian art masterpieces to go under the hammer at the Sotheby's upcoming 'Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art' sale on March 19 in New York.

The sale will also feature modern masterworks by leading artists including Bikash Bhattacharjee, Ganesh Pyne among over 70 lots that are expected to fetch an estimated total of Rs 30.30-42.50 crore approx ($4.7-6.6 million).

Following in the footsteps of Untitled (Damayanti), sold last season for a remarkable price of Rs 11 crore approx ($1.7 million), Ravi Varma's Tillottama carries a pre-sale estimate of Rs 2.50-3.80 crore approx ($400-600,000), the organisers said.

Painted circa 1896, the luminescent portrait of Tillottama, a celestial nymph from Hindu mythology, is characteristic of the artists oeuvre; by combining western Academic Realism with markedly Indian subjects, and unexpected combinations of colors, Ravi Varma's works of art remain timeless and uniquely his.

Leading this seasons sale, S H Raza's 'Ville Provencale' (1952) will make its first public appearance after it was first exhibited at the 1956 Venice Biennale.

Depicting a traditional French village, the painting in oil reflects influence of Paul Cézanne and Vincent van Gogh's color structure and formalism on Raza's work.

A total of 18 highlights from the sale will first be exhibited at The Oberoi in New Delhi on February 22-23.