A Street Scene in North West India, probably Udaipur

Weeks was the most famous American Orientalist painter in the Paris expatriate community of academic artists of the late 19th century. He travelled to Morocco, the Middle East and Persia and intrepidly ventured into India on three lengthy expeditions. On these trips, he frequently completed (or began) paintings in situ, despite the rigours of travel and climate. Having first shown at the Paris Salon in 1878, Weeks ultimately attained, in 1896, the highest distinction in the academic painter's world, the Salon's award of the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, and his work was exhibited and won awards across Europe and America from 1876 to 1904. Weeks also achieved distinction as a travel writer; American magazines published Weeks' vivid narratives of his exotic travels, illustrated with his own sketches, rendered in oils en grisaille. Many of these narratives were compiled at the height of his fame. In 1903, Weeks died suddenly and mysteriously at home in Paris at the age of fifty-four. Two years later, his widow arranged a sale in New York of Weeks' remaining oeuvre, from small sketches to monumental canvases, in a three day auction so remarkable that it received front-page coverage in New York.
This work will be included in Dr. Ellen K. Morris's forthcoming catalogue raisonné.