VADODARA: Corona not only lived her times and wowed all with her beauty then, she still bewitches onlookers down the ages more than a century later. However, had she been christened with the moniker now, she would have settled for her real name, Kate. And yet the bard said, “What’s in a name?”
With pandemic writ large on our minds, Corona seems to be a synonym for fear with people shunning anything slightly resembling the dreaded virus’ spherical particle adorned with deadly red spikes. But not this Corona with her infectious smile at the Baroda Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG).
In fact, she has been luring art-lovers with her radiance for a quick selfie, up and close! This painting has been adorning a wall in the museum for more than 100 years now, but needed a pandemic to propagate her fame.
“Ever since pandemic struck, my interest in Corona seems to have spiralled with me visiting the museum several times to watch the mesmerizing oil painting in the last few days,” chuckled Chandrashekhar Patil, an art-curator.
The original artwork on canvas by Italian-British painter Charles Perugini is on display in the European paintings section in the museum. “The lady is the daughter of famed novelist Charles Dickens and also the wife of Perugini, who is devoted to her beauty. He made several paintings of his wife, who was also known as Kate. Mesmerized by her bewitching looks, he titled this painting Corona as it resembles the expression of crowning,” explained Sandip Joshi, art-historian who gave a talk on Indian-European painting styles in the city on Thursday.
BMAG curator Vijay Patel, who too said that Corona is gaining popularity, stated that the museum houses 210 oil paintings, and has the largest collection of European paintings in south-east Asia.
“I was eager to walk through the European paintings gallery in the museum’s 19th century paintings. But my curiosity shot up when I heard about Corona and attended the walk. I was completely mesmerized by the artwork and her beauty,” said Rohit Khindkar, owner of a Pune-based software firm, who is in the city to attend the ongoing heritage week.