Cremation ghat at Benares (Varanasi)
Framed: H. 29 13/16 in × W. 23 1/8 in × D. 7/8 in (75.7 cm × 58.7 cm × 2.2 cm)
An artist creates and controls a mood through such elements as the treatment of brushstrokes, the level of detail and clarity given to aspects of the image, and color palette.
This site, known as the Cremation Ghat (Manikarnika ghat) at Varanasi, aroused ambivalent responses of fascination and uneasiness for Western travelers and artists. Devout Hindus brought their dying loved ones to the holy city as a final act of piety or their deceased relatives for cremation, to scatter their ashes from this ghat into the sacred Ganges River. In Landseer's painting, two plumes of dark smoke are visible, indicating the funeral pyres that burned at this location.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
George Landseer (1834–1878), was a Victorian period British portrait and landscape painter. He came from a family of artists, the best known being his father Thomas Landseer (engraver and printmaker) and his uncle, the painter Sir Edwin Landseer (1802–1873). Landseer exhibited paintings on biblical and literary subjects at the Royal Academy and the British Institution. He travelled to India in 1859 and painted portraits and watercolor landscapes; he returned to England in 1870.
