1858
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Caves of Karlie: No. 1, The Approach is a 1858 by William Johnson, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a rocky cliff with a huge carved doorway—tall pillars, arched windows, and a stone lion perched on top. Below, tiny people and pack animals walk toward the entrance, giving scale to the ancient cave. This painting shows the Karla Caves before modern repairs. Johnson painted the site as travelers saw it in the 1850s: weathered, lived-in, and still in use. The caves were already 1,500 years old when he sketched them. To see more of India’s early rock-cut temples, look up the subject: india.
This early view of the entrance to the ancient Karlie, or Karla, Caves in Western India shows the site before its restoration, including the monumental entrance pillar topped by a sculpture. Windows cut into the rock provided light inside. The shrines, created between the 2nd century BCE and the 5th century CE, provided sanctuary and shelter for monks but also for travelers and traders.
The largest prayer hall in this complex of Buddhist shrines cut into the rock is a sanctuary 124 feet long with a ribbed vault 45 feet high.
Read the full account in the museum source.
William Henry Johnson (March 18, 1901 – April 13, 1970) was an American painter. Born in Florence, South Carolina, he became a student at the National Academy of Design in New York City, working with Charles Webster…
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