Edwin Lord Weeks

Possibly, Denis & Robinot, Paris

Private Collection, New York (since circa 1955)

Exposition Monte Carlo, no. 553 (possibly lent Denis & Robinot)

D. Dodge Thompson, "Edwin Lord Weeks, American painter of India" The Magazine Antiques, vol. CXXVIII, no. 2, August 1985, p. 249, illustrated in its unfinished state, without figures and animals, in a photograph of the artist's studio

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. This painting is unlined. The paint layer seems to have been cleaned and there appear to be no restorations visible. There are two very slight dents in the roof and column of the overhang above the doorway. The slightly oriental frame completes the package. The painting will certainly clean however it is in lovely if not perfect condition and in no apparent need of restoration.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This subject of this striking painting by Edwin Lord Weeks is the side portico of a mosque in Ahmedabad, India, likely the Mosque of Shah Alun. Such side entries, with their covered porches and series of steps, typically led either to the mosque proper or to its forecourt, and served as natural social gathering places, as seen here. These buildings, and the social groupings they supported, would have been very familiar to the artist based upon his extensive travels to Ahmedabad during his later expeditions to India in 1887-88 and 1892-93.

As was typical of the artist's working method for paintings of this scale, the present work was executed in two distinct phases. In this instance, the architectural aspects were painted in situ circa 1888-89, while the figures and animals were added some time later, in the artist's Paris studio on the avenue de Wagram, probably based on separate series of in situ studies and sketches, as well as photographs he may have taken while there.

In the case of the present work, this two-stage process can be specifically documented. A photograph of the artist's studio taken circa 1890 shows this painting in its preliminary version as an architectural backdrop, without the foreground figures, hanging second from the left at the upper row of paintings on the wall behind the artist. The dating of this studio photograph suggests that the figures were added either circa 1890-91, immediately prior to the artist's third expedition to India, or some time in the mid-1890s, following his return from that expedition (1892-93), which the artist chronicled in his travel journal, From the Black Sea through Persia and India (New York, 1895).

The present painting also displays Weeks' characteristically deft handling of strong sunlight contrasting with deep shadows. These effects are especially pronounced in the treatment of the columns and mosque entry, and in the subtle handling of reflected light on the underside of the portico. Set against the deep blue of the afternoon sky, the entire painting conveys an almost tactile sense of dusty heat, a sense no doubt directly related to the artist's in situ execution of the architectural backdrop.

A characteristic example of Weeks' dynamic composition, the oblique lines of the architecture are nicely counterbalanced by the irregular groupings of the figures and the glimpses of buildings and landscape beyond. Characteristic, too, is the artist's fine balance between accurate draughtmanship, with an almost photographically-true perspective, and a more notational, suggestive rendering of detail and texture. At its best, this balance between the painterly handling of detail and the precise handling of light and shadow gives Weeks' work a naturalism far removed from the brittle academicism of some of his contemporaries. These qualities are particularly evident in this fine example by the artist at the height of his powers.