Ivan Peries was born in Sri Lanka in 1931. Peries' work has largely grown out of his preoccupation with the idealisation of the Ceylonese landscape. The artist was part of the 43 Group, an art group which took inspiration from international art movements based in Paris and London as well as Santiniketan in India. Members of the group included painters George Keyt and Richard Gabriel. The 43 Group artists were able to create a more secular painting tradition than the one supported by the Ceylon Society of Arts. The artist died in 1969.
In this painting we see two highly stylized saintly figures. On the left, we observe a tall standing figure whilst on the right, a smaller hunched seated figure. Both saints are dressed in long saffron-coloured robes. The two figures are set against a dark ground and framed within a roughly executed siena border.
