A Life Devoted to Spirituality and Art

Prasanta is one of the original artists who created paintings for the European branch of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (bbt), the publishing house Srila Prabhupada established to publish his books, and several of his works appeared in the Srimad Bhagavatam edition published in the 1980s in Italy. Throughout his life, he has continued to paint mainly devotional art. MOSA is delighted to have acquired this important collection of Prasanta’s works on display in our gallery in Radhadesh during the Radhadesh Mellows in 2023.

We would first of all like to thank Prasanta and his sons, Nrishinga and Hari, for their collaboration in making this exhibition and collection possible.

The artistic career of Pietro di Giovannantonio (Prasanta Das) (Sant’Antimo, 1957) constitutes ante litteram a fascinating version of global art history, never before transcribed. Prasanta grew up in an artistic environment. In fact, his father, Francesco, was an important restorer, has been particularly involved in the reconstruction of the friezes of several historical Neapolitan palaces. Two of Prasanta’s brothers also became painters.

After attending the Artistic Lyceum, from 1977 to 1979, Pietro di Giovannantonio trained in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, a period in which he became acquainted with the Hare Krishna Movement following a visit by a group of devotees staying for a few months at his home, who impressed him. From that moment, in 1978, he started attending the temple in Rome (the first and only one in Italy in that year, founded in 1974), and the newly opened centre in Catania the following year.

coming soon…