The Jagat Siromani Temple, Udaipur. 'Janr. 1879'

Oil painting of the Jagdish temple at Udaipur by Marianne North dated 1879. Inscribed: 'Juganat Temple Oodipore. India. Janr. 1879'.Initially Marianne North (1830-1890) only painted botanical specimens and travelled around the world in search of interesting subject matter. She visited India in 1877-79 and completed over 200 paintings whilst there, painting landscape views as well. Udaipur is the new capital of the Mewar State (Chittor was sacked in 1567) and was founded by Maharana Udai Singh (ruled 1567-72) of the Sisodia Rajputs. It is located on the east bank of Pichola Lake and the town is dominated by the main royal residence in Udaipur, the City Palace. This view depicts the Jagdish Temple which is dedicated to Vishnu as Jagannatha, the Lord of the Universe and is situated in the middle of the town of Udaipur. It was built by the Rajput king Jagat Singh I in the 1650s. The outer walls are elaborately carved and the basement has multi-faceted mouldings including friezes of elephants. Two tiers of sculptures representing the various divinities are set on the wall recesses and projections. In her autobiography, 'Recollections of a happy life' of 1892, Marianne North wrote: "...we drove through the old gates into the city and through the busy bazaars to the grand Jaganath Temple in its centre-one of the richest bits of Hindu work I had seen in India, great elephants of stone guarding the top of the steep flight of step which led to it."