Two juxtaposed portraits are going viral on social media. One is the Portrait of Mona Lisa, a famous painting made by European painter, Leonardo Di Vinci, and the other image is shared with a claim that it is the image made by the acclaimed Indian painter, Raja Ravi Verma.
The image is being shared with a claim, “#foodforthought Choose between the two portraits. One is by Raja Ravi Verma, which perhaps, you have never seen. Another is by Leonardo da Vinci which you must have seen million times. Now think about how marketing and propaganda lobbies bias our mind. All your choices are based on what lobbies promote.”
The link to the post can be seen here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile did a fact-check and found the claim to be fake.
On doing a Google Reverse Image Search of the portrait claimed to be made by Raja Ravi Verma, we found out that the same image was uploaded on Pinterest with the caption, “Hyderabad Bridal Inspiration on Instagram: “Raja Ravi Varma recreation series with @swati194| wonderful captures by the team @sruvamstudios #bridesofhyderabad #bride…”
We also searched the Instagram link mentioned in the post. The link led to an Instagram profile named, “bridesofhyderabad“. The same image was shared on Instagram in 2019 with a caption, “Raja Ravi Varma recreation series with @swati194 wonderful captures by the team @sruvamstudios.”
We searched with the keyword, ‘Swathi, Raja Ravi Verma’ and found the same image was uploaded by Swathi Reddy, a South Indian Actress, on her Facebook page in 2019, with a caption, “Radha in the Moonlight | Raja Ravi Varma Recreation series by Sruvam Photography Old school girl.”
We also contacted Shruthi of Sruvam Studios, who confirmed that the image was clicked by them. She told us, “The image was shot during June 2019 by Mr Vamsi Krishna of Sruvam studios, Hyderabad and was shot with Swathi Reddy.”
Hence, even though the viral photo is based on Raja Ravi Verma’s portrait, it is a recreated photograph and not the original portrait. Therefore, the viral claim is misleading.
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