Composed in the twelfth century, the poem Gita Govinda tells the story of Krishna, an incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu, and his love for Radha, a gopī or 'cow herdess'. The illustrations in this manuscript were probably painted c.1790 by a group of artists Jaipur, Rajasthan. Its twenty-four folios start from the beginning of the poem, which is composed as a cycle of twenty-four songs, up to the middle of the third song. The folios are in horizontal format with each of the verses written at the top in Sanskrit, the classical language of India, in devanagari script. Many of the verses in this part of the poem refer to the exploits of Lord Vishnu in his various incarnations. As is customary in Rajput painting, the painters have interpreted the text in continuous narrative, i.e. illustrating multiple scenes from the same tale within a single painting. The structure of the paintings is therefore very important, often being separated into distinct planes or zones for different scenes, yet retaining an overall balance and harmonious composition. In many of the paintings we see figures representing the manuscript's finely-dressed patrons.