1882
oil
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Copy of painting inside the caves of Ajanta (Cave 2) is a 1882 oil by John Griffiths, a Impressionism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting copies a scene from India’s Ajanta caves. Visitors carry gifts toward stone figures of Hariti and Kubera in the chapel’s center. Bright colors show robes, jewelry, and offerings like flowers and bowls. In 1819, British explorers found the caves buried in jungle. Artists like John Griffiths made oil copies before the originals faded. Griffiths worked between 1881 and 1883. See these colors close up at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting reproduces a scene from the interior walls of Cave 2 at Ajanta, showing visitors approaching the central stone figures of the yaksha couple Hariti and Kubera. A jewelled male figure sits on a cushion at left, while a group of four people occupies the center, including a jester with a curved stick and three women, one holding a fly-whisk and wearing an elaborate headdress. Below, three children appear with two chickens, and above, a genie floats in the sky against a mountainous backdrop.
Read the full account in the museum source.
John Griffiths (29 November 1837 – 1 December 1918) was a Welsh artist who worked in India, noted for his Orientalist works.
See the richer artist page
