“The golden afternoon haze is beginning to soften the white of the walls, but tomorrow morning, when this side is in shadow, we shall see exactly the same mellow glow on the opposite side, and the difference between morning and afternoon is quite too intangible to express with any painter's medium.”
- EDWIN LORD WEEKS

Edwin Lord Weeks’ relentless passion for art and audacious sense of adventure established him as one of the... “The golden afternoon haze is beginning to soften the white of the walls, but tomorrow morning, when this side is in shadow, we shall see exactly the same mellow glow on the opposite side, and the difference between morning and afternoon is quite too intangible to express with any painter's medium.”
- EDWIN LORD WEEKS

Edwin Lord Weeks’ relentless passion for art and audacious sense of adventure established him as one of the most celebrated American Orientalist painters in the Paris expatriate community of academic artists during the late 19th century. Born in 1849 to a wealthy family of spice and tea merchants in Boston, Weeks took to travelling and painting at a young age. His journey as an Orientalist painter began in 1872, at age 23, coinciding with his first transatlantic voyage, during which he visited Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine.

Around this time, Weeks moved to Paris where he studied under noted French academic painters Jean-Léon Gérôme and Léon Bonnat. The latter, in particular, “instilled in him the dual principles of absolute realism and love of color”, which shaped the artist’s own mature style that later established his reputation as a distinguished artist. (Ulrich W Hiesinger, Edwin Lord Weeks: Visions of India, New York: Vance Jordan Fine Art Inc., 2002, p. 15) He extensively explored Northern Africa and the Middle East between the 1870s and 1880s, travelling across Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, and Persia. The desert landscapes and figurative studies inspired by these journeys captured the imagination of his audience and contributed to his rising popularity in Europe and America. Praised by critics for their “glowing color and atmospheric effects”, they served as vivid records of places rarely seen by Westerners outside of trade or military campaigns. (Hiesinger, p. 14) His painting Moroccan Camel Driver at Tangier was his first work to be accepted at the Paris Salon in 1878. Though relatively unknown at the time, he became well-regarded at subsequent Salon galleries and participated in several official committees.

Nevertheless, it was Weeks’ decision to focus his artistic vision on India that crowned his career, “reflecting both the novelty of the subject and the extraordinary treatment it received at his hands.” (Hiesinger, p. 10) India held tremendous fascination for the artist, who had pored over photographs of the country and had closely read James Fergusson’s 1876 study History of Indian and Eastern Architecture and French traveller Louis Rousselet’s 800-page travel book India and its Native Princes: Travels in Central India and in the Presidencies of Bombay and Bengal, published in 1875. He made detailed observations of his travels, which were published in Harper’s New Monthly magazine and later compiled into a book, From the Black Sea Through Persia, published in 1895. The artist embarked on three trips to India-in 1882-83, 1886-87, and 1892-93. He made detailed observations of his travels, which were published in the Harper’s New Monthly magazine and later compiled into a book, From the Black Sea Through Persia, published in 1895. Like his paintings, these writings are rich in architectural and ethnographic detail and offer an insight into Weeks’ impressions of the places he visited and his keen interest in the Orient.

The present lot, a wonderfully evocative painting of Lake Pichola in Udaipur, is likely based on Weeks’ visit to the city during his second journey to India, when he travelled across the princely states of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Jaipur, and Udaipur. In contrast to the bustling cities of Ahmedabad and Bombay, where Weeks had spent hours sketching lively street scenes, Udaipur appeared to be a tranquil respite seemingly untouched by industrial activity and rapid modernisation. Remarking on the view from his dak bungalow room he wrote, “Oodeypore-Even the first impression is agreeable, and has a fresh charm after the monotonous levels of the Punjab, which lie far enough to the north to have the chill, at least, of a Northern November.”(Edwin Lord Weeks, “The Approach to a Residency”, From the Black Sea Through Persia, New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1896, p. 253)

“Seen in the morning light, with the sunshine slanting obliquely across the dazzling white of the lower walls, and accentuating the balconied windows, while it leaves the trifolia gateway and whole masses of the palace in shadow-a shadow full of mellow reflections and the azure of the sky-it has the coloring of a great cumulus cloud, and seems hardly more material.”
- EDWIN LORD WEEKS

The painting exemplifies Weeks’ meticulous compositional method and his expert handling of light and colour which allowed him to convey India’s tropical atmosphere with remarkable fidelity. The scene unfolds from a ghat which leads down to the water’s edge, where a group of women are depicted bathing and carrying water jugs in the foreground. Behind them is a more elaborately dressed group of women gathering around a sadhu-like figure. In the background the façade of the Jag Niwas-one of Udaipur’s iconic lake palaces-rises gracefully. The artist documented his visit to the palace in his writings, noting that he personally took a boat out to visit it. He mentions a scene that possibly could have inspired the subject of the present lot: “As we stand on the steps and look across the water in front of us, which is like a narrow river at this point, we see other temples among dark trees, all in the shadow, and there are also little garden pavilions, with steps descending to the water, and sometimes with graceful arcaded galleries overhanging it. Just now the platform behind us and the steps are crowded with women and young girls, babies and children, all either bathing or washing their brazen waterjars, chattering, gossiping, laughing, or lying about in the genial afternoon sunshine of January, and not at all in a hurry to finish their work or to go home.” (Weeks, “Artistic Groups”, p. 271)

Often dubbed a “painter-explorer”, Weeks approached his surroundings with a painterly eye and a keen sense of observation. This perspective is especially evident in his portrayal of the lake palace, which emanates a quiet grandeur, its whitewashed walls bathed in a warm yellow light. As writer and curator Ulrich Hiesinger notes, it is this attention to architectural detail that greatly contributed to the authenticity of his scenes. (Hiesinger, p. 36) At the same time, he was acutely aware of his intended audience and occasionally borrowed certain tropes that were popular in Orientalist art at the time. The bathing figures, for example, are painted in an idealised manner and resemble dancers or nautch girls rather than ordinary women. The artist made several sketches and figurative studies on his travels which he later transposed to his compositions to add a sense of narrative and theatricality to the work.

Weeks had attained considerable popularity and acclaim by the time the present lot was painted. He was awarded a special medal and prize for his exhibition of 78 works at the Empire of India Exhibition held in London in 1895 and was made a chevalier of the French Legion of Honour the following year. Memorialising the artist’s legacy after his death in 1903 a critic wrote, “Particularly luminous and spectacular are some of his pictures of the cities of India, with their wonderful architecture, so well drawn…these scenes are finely dramatic, and they are among the best illustrations of Oriental life that we have in color. The pageantry of Indian life appealed powerfully to the artist, and he rendered it with all its inherent splendor and gorgeousness.” (Hiesinger, p. 49)

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