# Green Tara

**Aniko** (Nepalese, active in Tibet mid- to late 1200s)  
c. 1260s, mounted 2020  
thangka; gum tempera, ink, and gold on sized cotton; mount: silk  
Painting: 52.4 x 43.2 cm (20 5/8 x 17 in.); Overall: 107 x 65 cm (42 1/8 x 25 9/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1970.156. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/1970.156).

## About this work

For Tibetans, Green Tara is one of the preeminent figures of their Buddhist faith, a radiant savioress who embodies the female form of the perfect, enlightened mind. The Green Tara in the Cleveland thangka— a Tibetan devotional painting on cloth—specifically dispels fear and provides protection, just like her mantra inscribed on the back side of the painting. Her green color and fear-not gesture link her to the cosmic Buddha of the North, enshrined above her head. Most scholars agree that this work was painted by the celebrated Nepalese artist known as Aniko.

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Aniko painted this in about 1260s, mounted 2020. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Opaque watercolour.** Watercolour made opaque with white or chalk and laid in flat, even layers. Persian and Indian painters ground their colours from minerals, applied them with the finest brushes and burnished the finished page.
- **Tempera.** Pigment bound with egg yolk. It dries in minutes and can’t be blended wet, so painters built up form with fine, hatched strokes. It was Europe’s main panel technique before oil.

### [Aniko](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/aniko)

Nepalese, active in Tibet mid- to late 1200s

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: Central Tibet
- Real size: about 42 × 26 in (107 × 65 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 20 × 30 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 13th century
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/674.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/674/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/green-tara-cma-144961).