1874
oil
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Copy of painting inside the caves of Ajanta (Cave 1) is a 1874 oil by John Griffiths, a Impressionism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This oil painting is a modern copy of an ancient mural from Ajanta Cave 1. It shows a scene from the Champaka Jataka, one of the Buddha’s past life stories painted centuries ago. The originals date from 1st century BC to AD 480. After a fire destroyed earlier copies, John Griffiths and his students spent years recreating them. Look up the Victoria and Albert Museum.
This copy reproduces a scene from the Champaka Jataka in Cave 1 at Ajanta, part of a series of Buddhist narrative paintings dating from the 1st century BC to AD 480. On the right, a damaged figure of a raja, adorned with jewelry and resting against a blue striped pillow, appears to listen to a man and woman in the foreground, with a snake charmer and emerging serpent in the lower right corner. To the left, a palace interior shows another raja seated with four female attendants, while the adjacent panels IS.6-1885 and IS.11-1885 continue the narrative sequence. The work was created between…
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
