1882
oil
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Copy of painting inside the caves of Ajanta (cave 10) is a 1882 oil by John Griffiths, a Impressionism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This is an oil painting made in 1881–83. It copies a cave painting inside Ajanta’s cave ten. The original, from India’s ancient past, tells stories of the Buddha. Griffiths worked with seven Indian students each winter for thirteen years. Their copies saved scenes that had nearly vanished after a fire in 1866. See more of Griffiths’ Ajanta copies at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
This damaged copy depicts a scene from the Saddanta jataka, showing a group of elephants in a lotus pool, surrounded by lotus leaves, rendered from multiple angles. The lower section shows fire damage and the surface is darkened, with heavy scratches indicating further deterioration of the original cave painting. Created by John Griffiths and seven Indian students over thirteen winters between 1872 and 1885, the work was commissioned to document the Ajanta cave paintings, some of which had been lost in a fire in 1866. The painting was later deposited in the India Museum in London.
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
