William SimpsonBritish, 1823–1899Kailasanatha temple, Ellora
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Not receiving at present
London, United Kingdom
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
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- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
William Simpson (1823 - 1899) was commissioned to go to India by his employers, Day and Sons, the London lithography firm. Having established his reputation by documenting the Crimean war in 1854, he was instructed to sketch well-known sites in and around Delhi associated with the heavy fighting of 1857.
Simpson arrived in Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1859 and travelled widely. His rapid pencil drawings formed the preparatory studies for his finished watercolours which were done after his return to London in 1862. His fond memories of India, as noted in his journal, resulted in these highly coloured, evocative and romantic interpretations of the Indian landscape.
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The Kailasanatha temple was breathtaking to all who saw it. The immense scale of the architecture, and the skill required to carve it out of the rocky mountainside, was almost incomprehensible, and the angle from which Simpson has drawn this view highlights this fact. The European couple give a sense of scale to the temple.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1167-1869
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
