The Indian 'Woman With The Lamp'

A famous Indian painting by the renowned painter S.L. Haldankar of his third daughter, drawn about 70 years ago.

A portrait that was able to survive the touch of the withered hand of time, being carefully encased on a canvas by the hands of a doting father, who wanted his daughter to never age.

"The painting shows an Indian woman holding a lighted lamp in one hand, the other hand covering the light of the lamp from the front. The woman is in a simple and traditional Indian saree. The effect of the painting is heightened by the shadow of the woman in the back.

The painting is housed in a special room at the Sri Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery. It is displayed in an enclave with a curtained window. The enclave is normally darkened, which highlights the subtlety of the glowing lamp in the painting. One can see in the dark the hand which is covering the candle — which is the only thing that is giving out light — is glowing very bright red, seems that it is authentic ;her hand really seems to be glowing due to the lamp's light.

The woman who is holding the covered lamp is Gita Haldankar (now Smt. Gita Krishnakant Uplekar), the third daughter of the artist. She currently lives in Kolhapur City of Maharashtra State. On 2 February 2017 she turned 100" - Wikipedia.