1852
oil
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Copy of painting inside the caves of Ajanta (cave 1) is a 1852 oil by Robert Gill, a British Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
Robert Gill’s oil copy shows a crumbling cave wall covered in faded murals. Figures in robes with halos line up in rows. One holds a bowl. The colors are mostly earthy reds and browns. This is a copy of an Indian cave painting from 2,000 years ago. It tells two old stories about the Buddha’s past lives. Tiny details like jewelry and lotus flowers show how the original artists worked. Look up the Victoria and Albert Museum to see this copy in person.
This copy by Robert Gill depicts scenes from the Janaka Jataka and Sankhapala Jataka, part of the Ajanta cave paintings dating from the 1st century BC to AD 480. In the upper left, figures pull a large snake while a man with oxen stands before it; to the right, a raja and rani occupy a palace with decorated pillars, and below, women prepare materials in an inner chamber. The painting includes black outlines marking cave doorways and connects to another panel at its right edge.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Major Robert Gill (1804–1879) was an army officer, antiquarian, painter and photographer in British India.
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