In which century was the earliest known painting of Holi created?

The earliest known painting of Holi is generally placed in the 16th century. This date refers to surviving Indian artwork depicting the festival or its Krishna-centered spring imagery, not to the much older origins of Holi itself.

Holi is mentioned in Sanskrit literature and religious texts centuries before surviving paintings of the celebration. Visual evidence became especially prominent in Indian miniature traditions, where artists portrayed Krishna, Radha, and the gopis throwing colored powder or spraying tinted water.

The 16th century was an important period for courtly and devotional painting in India, including the Deccan, Mughal, and Rajput regions. Artists often connected Holi with the seasonal idea of Vasanta, or spring, and with Krishna’s playful relationship with Radha. Some early works are dated approximately, so “earliest known” means the oldest surviving or currently identified example—not necessarily the first Holi image ever made.

Later paintings made Holi a recurring subject. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Mughal, Rajasthani, and Pahari artists produced especially vivid scenes featuring pichkaris, colored water, musicians, palace gardens, and crowded royal celebrations. Those later works are more numerous, but they do not change the earlier 16th-century dating of the first known example.