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Lot Essay
Bikanir Palace, which looms over the background in Weeks’s composition, is now known as Jonagarh Fort, a large complex which is studded with palaces, temples and pavilions which have been preserved as museums. Bekanir was formerly the capital of the princely state of Bikanir, founded in 1496, and is now part of the province of Rajasthan in northwestern India. The ‘fête day’ was actually a two-day annual festival celebrating the establishment of the palace-fort. Bikanir’s annual festival, celebrating foundation day, is was known as the Akshaya Tritaya fête. Weeks’ expedition to Bikanir took place in January, 1893, en route by rail to Jodhpore and Jeypore.
This magnificent painting of court life in late 19th-century India was composed of a great many studies in oil that Weeks made of Bikanir palace in 1893, even though the overall painting may not have been executed until eight-to-ten years later in his Paris studio. It exemplifies his ‘collage’ technique of building a major composition utilizing in-situ studies made during his expedition. The painting reflects the festivities about to take place during the annual celebration of the city’s founding.
The architectural backdrop (the palace of Bikanir) is brilliantly and accurately recorded by Weeks, showing multiple tiers of the Rajah’s many rooms, some painted in white (the lower stories) whereas the upper two stories are yellow and the section to the right constructed in wood. Yet the eye connects with the rooms on the middle level, shaded by red fabric and probably the quarters of the Rajah’s private harem. The eye is astonished by the assemblage in the courtyard of elephants, camels and people within the palace court.
The glorious decorated elephant on the right is the same one depicted in an earlier painting, Les elephants de Rajah de Jodhpore, with its intricately woven gold and multicolored covering and the Rajah’s seat upon its back. The elephant behind, with its upraised trunk, is depicted in Weeks’ travel account of his expedition From the Black Sea through Persia and India (Harper’s, 1895), on p. 231 with the title 'Palace of the Rajah of Bikanir'. The elaborately dressed women in the foreground stand adjacent to the Master of Ceremonies, dressed in white, who is ready to lead the procession celebrating Bikanir, all watched by a crowd of visitors converged on the palace stairs behind.
Weeks’ own words in his descriptive travel account of 1895 (see ibid.) give us the real flavor of his first-hand impressions of Bikanir:
'The great fortress and palace of Bikanir bring to mind the Arab proverb concerning ‘the prince who builds a palace and ruins a city’, for as is frequently the case in Rajpootana its magnificence is out of all proportion to the size of the city grouped about it. Although placed on the same level as the town ... it is still an imposing and magnificent pile. Surrounded by massive sloping walls ... and entered by a drawbridge crossing a wide moat ... it looks fit to sustain a siege. ... Towering many stories above the court-yard rose the facade of the palace, with endless tiers of latticed galleries shaded by faded red curtains. The highest point of all was a sloping pyramidal roof of blue glazed tiles.' (pp. 229-230) '... The vast palace yard, beyond the elephant gate, seemed to be the centre of life, and was never quiet at any hour of the day. Groups of servants, soldiers and retainers were constantly passing in and out, while here and there a little knot of men, liveried in scarlet and yellow or in white, squatted on their heels around the bubbling hookah, and each group formed the nucleus of a changing crowd.' (p. 234)
The painting is listed in the March, 1905 estate sale catalogue (American Art Galleries, New York) of the Works of the Late Edwin Lord Weeks, Finished Paintings, Studies, Sketches and Drawings (Lot 92) as unsigned. Indeed the signature at the lower-right of the painting is quite irregular and no doubt added later by another hand; but this does not detract from the absolute authenticity of the painting itself. The relatively coarse weave of the canvas and the ‘brushy’ technique suggest the painting was executed towards 1902-03, characteristic of the artist’s work during this time, and may explain why the painting was not yet signed.
We would like to thank Dr. Ellen K. Morris for contributing this catalogue note. A Letter of Authentication from Dr. Morris accompanies the painting. A Fête Day at Bekanir–Beloochistan will be included in her Edwin Lord Weeks catalogue raisonné, currently under preparation.
This magnificent painting of court life in late 19th-century India was composed of a great many studies in oil that Weeks made of Bikanir palace in 1893, even though the overall painting may not have been executed until eight-to-ten years later in his Paris studio. It exemplifies his ‘collage’ technique of building a major composition utilizing in-situ studies made during his expedition. The painting reflects the festivities about to take place during the annual celebration of the city’s founding.
The architectural backdrop (the palace of Bikanir) is brilliantly and accurately recorded by Weeks, showing multiple tiers of the Rajah’s many rooms, some painted in white (the lower stories) whereas the upper two stories are yellow and the section to the right constructed in wood. Yet the eye connects with the rooms on the middle level, shaded by red fabric and probably the quarters of the Rajah’s private harem. The eye is astonished by the assemblage in the courtyard of elephants, camels and people within the palace court.
The glorious decorated elephant on the right is the same one depicted in an earlier painting, Les elephants de Rajah de Jodhpore, with its intricately woven gold and multicolored covering and the Rajah’s seat upon its back. The elephant behind, with its upraised trunk, is depicted in Weeks’ travel account of his expedition From the Black Sea through Persia and India (Harper’s, 1895), on p. 231 with the title 'Palace of the Rajah of Bikanir'. The elaborately dressed women in the foreground stand adjacent to the Master of Ceremonies, dressed in white, who is ready to lead the procession celebrating Bikanir, all watched by a crowd of visitors converged on the palace stairs behind.
Weeks’ own words in his descriptive travel account of 1895 (see ibid.) give us the real flavor of his first-hand impressions of Bikanir:
'The great fortress and palace of Bikanir bring to mind the Arab proverb concerning ‘the prince who builds a palace and ruins a city’, for as is frequently the case in Rajpootana its magnificence is out of all proportion to the size of the city grouped about it. Although placed on the same level as the town ... it is still an imposing and magnificent pile. Surrounded by massive sloping walls ... and entered by a drawbridge crossing a wide moat ... it looks fit to sustain a siege. ... Towering many stories above the court-yard rose the facade of the palace, with endless tiers of latticed galleries shaded by faded red curtains. The highest point of all was a sloping pyramidal roof of blue glazed tiles.' (pp. 229-230) '... The vast palace yard, beyond the elephant gate, seemed to be the centre of life, and was never quiet at any hour of the day. Groups of servants, soldiers and retainers were constantly passing in and out, while here and there a little knot of men, liveried in scarlet and yellow or in white, squatted on their heels around the bubbling hookah, and each group formed the nucleus of a changing crowd.' (p. 234)
The painting is listed in the March, 1905 estate sale catalogue (American Art Galleries, New York) of the Works of the Late Edwin Lord Weeks, Finished Paintings, Studies, Sketches and Drawings (Lot 92) as unsigned. Indeed the signature at the lower-right of the painting is quite irregular and no doubt added later by another hand; but this does not detract from the absolute authenticity of the painting itself. The relatively coarse weave of the canvas and the ‘brushy’ technique suggest the painting was executed towards 1902-03, characteristic of the artist’s work during this time, and may explain why the painting was not yet signed.
We would like to thank Dr. Ellen K. Morris for contributing this catalogue note. A Letter of Authentication from Dr. Morris accompanies the painting. A Fête Day at Bekanir–Beloochistan will be included in her Edwin Lord Weeks catalogue raisonné, currently under preparation.