Think of the stereotypical image that comes to mind when one thinks of an expert in Indian art. Whatever one might think of, a fifth-generation Bengaluru lawyer might not be an easy guess—yet Ganesh Shivaswamy has made a solid place for himself among those who have studied painter Raja Ravi Varma.The lawyer’s tryst with art began as a teenager, when he was diagnosed with a tumour of the pituitary gland in the 90s. He wound up under the care of Dr R M Varma at NIMHANS, a family friend who also happened to be a member of Raja Ravi Varma’s family.During his post-surgical recovery, the doctor had some unique advice for the youth. Shivaswamy said, “He said to look at art…he told me that the power of vision was so intense. If I look at beautiful things, it would energise me.”Another quirk of Bengaluru trends led the young Shivaswamy to Raja Ravi Varma as an artist. He explained, “At that point in time, a lot of Bangalore was being demolished, and these old stately homes were being pulled down. Many Ravi Varma prints, which were in pooja rooms, etc, came out for sale or just trashing. It became very easy for me to get hold of this kind of imagery as it was cheap or just discarded.”Sensibilities of the common man of IndiaBut if you don’t really know much about art to begin with, what really sets apart Raja Ravi Varma for the layperson? According to Shivaswamy, it is because his images appeal to the sensibilities of the common man of India. He said, “Most other artists remain within the realm of the patron, the museum… where does the common man have access? Today an autorickshaw driver has a little plaque of goddess Lakshmi and prays. That is from the mould of Ravi Varma. Which other artist can claim that degree of percolation?”Also Read | Raja Ravi Varma and RK Laxman enter into an unlikely artistic dialogue at Pune exhibitionIndeed, Ravi Varma had an outsize effect on the depiction of contemporary religious art—one might certainly argue that the more human-like depictions of the divine in the present day stem from the influence of his work.The “oleograph” prints produced by his press also made them more physically and economically accessible to the common man.Story continues below this adThis is certainly a passion that Shivaswamy has embraced wholeheartedly. What began as a youth collecting prints has turned into years of research and work. He has begun a comprehensive six-volume work titled Raja Ravi Varma: An Everlasting Imprint. So far, the first four volumes have been completed.Also Read | How Raja Ravi Varma, whose ‘Yashoda and Krishna’ fetched a record Rs 167 cr, blended Indian themes with European sensibilitiesShivaswamy has tackled the topic of the great artist not just from the perspective of royal patronage, which is certainly an aspect of how the art begins, but also how the populace reacted and interacted with that work.He said, “I look at the picture as being the protagonist (instead of the painter). There is a complete shift in the vantage.” This was fuelled by painstaking research into archives, families who gave him access to paintings in their possession, and other resources.‘Historian and lawyer have similar skills’But is it easy for a lawyer to become an art historian, even if he is a lover of art? The skills involved in both are surprisingly similar, according to Shivaswamy. He said, “I did not have to change anything. A historian and a lawyer are reconstructing facts that happened when we were not there. Constructing a narrative for both a historian and a litigating lawyer is the same… if you want to prove something where you do not have direct evidence, you need something more than ‘he said, she said’.”Story continues below this adAlso Read | Where Ravi Varma once painted in Vadodara, new artists found their voiceExplaining the rigour that goes into documenting the art and history behind a figure like Ravi Varma, he said, “There are people who have come to me and said that their grandmother had said something which was not in my book. And my answer is that I cannot put it in because they said it. For me, it will appear in my book if it is validated through some other thing also.”He is certainly a busy man, though. His work on Ravi Varma must rank below his family and professional commitments, and he strictly adheres to a ratio where it receives about a fifth of his time.If one is starting out as an art aficionado, though, where does one start with Ravi Varma? Shivaswamy says, “First, understand what his image represented. The images participated in current affairs, and they became important and relevant.”