Picture Details
Courtyard of a Muslim dargah with a mosque beyond
Partner:
British LibraryImage reference:
BL.Add.Or.4778Origin:
North, Indian SubcontinentArtist / Date:
Sita Ram, 1814-1815Size:
390 x 530 mmDescription:
Click here for more details
This painting is from a set of eight albums recording a journey through upper India by Lord Hastings, Governor General of Bengal (1813-1823). They show that the artist Sita Ram, whose oeuvre has a free and impressionistic style, was one of the most important Indian artists of the 19th century, trained in the new style of watercolour technique and composition introduced by English artists. The scene is of an Islamic mausoleum complex including a cloth-canopied saint's tomb and a domed mosque, with a touch of colour added to the muted tones of earth and stone by the flowers laid out in the centre. The garden, `jannat' in Arabic and `firdaus' in Persian, is a metaphor for paradise in Islamic philosophy and art. Symmetrical flowerbeds were either located in courtyards or arranged around centrally-placed buildings. The flowers in the painting appear to be roses, a popular flower of the Islamic garden. Rose water and attar of roses or rose oil were used as perfume, to flavour food, and by physicians in their concoctions. The damask rose was the common variety of the Indian sub-continent.
