Raja Ravi Verma (also spelled Raja Ravi Varma) was born on April 29, 1848 to Umamba Thampuratti and Neelakandan Bhattathiripad in the Kilimanoor palace, a small fiefdom in the princely state of Travancore (modern Kerala).

As per the tradition in aristocratic houses, he was educated at home and received his first lesson in picture-making from his uncle, the artist Raja Raja Varma. At the age of 14, Ayilyam Thirunal Maharaja took him to Travancore Palace and he was taught water painting by the palace painter Rama SwamNaidu.

After 3 years Theodor Jenson, a British painter taught him oil painting. In 1873 he submitted two paintings to the Fine Arts Exhibition held in Madras one of which (Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair) won the Governor's Gold Medal. He became a world famous Indian painter after winning in 1873 Vienna Exhibition. In the following year he was again awarded the Governor's Gold Medal. He mostly drew themes from the ancient Indian epics.

Raja Ravi Varma owed his success to a systematic training, first in the traditional art of Thanjavoor, and then in European art. His paintings can be broadly classified into 1.Portraits, 2.Portrait-based compositions, 3.Theatrical compositions based on myths and legends.

Though the artist's immense popularity lay in the third category, the first two types of works prove his merit as an exceedingly sensitive and competent artist.

Ravi Varma is considered as modern among traditionalists and a rationalist among moderns. He provided a vital link between the traditional Indian art and the contemporary, between the Thanjavoor School and Western Academic realism. He brought Indian painting to the attention of the larger world.

Raja Ravi Varma breathed his last on 2nd October 1906.