The present work, which presumably relates to an untraced larger composition, is a spectacular rendition of a procession in Jodhpur, India. The work was inspired by Weeks' second visit to the city in 1887, four years into his journey to the subcontinent. He returned for a second time in 1892, commissioned by
Harper's Magazine which subsequently published the account of his travels in a series of articles titled
From the Black Sea through Persia and India.
Weeks frequently made use of photographs and drawings to capture the architectural details of the cities he encountered during his travels. With its imposing walls, the fortress of Jodhpur must have made a strong impression on the artist: ‘just beyond the arcades rises the steep bare precipice, defended in places by castellated fort; the precipice merges into a white wall of colossal height, partly of masonry and partly the rock itself; and above the wall rises the castle, like a compact walled city, with pointed spired of temples, tall battlemented towers, and its multitude of red latticed windows. It looks as impregnable as the Matterhorn, and even a scaling party of Swiss guides would find work in reaching the base of the great walls'. (
From the Black Sea through Persia and India, New York,, 1895, p. 215)
Weeks' trip to India proved to be an immense source of inspiration and his Indian paintings earned him fame and widespread artistic recognition across Europe and America.