{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O431922"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O431922/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NJ7968/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NJ7968/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2023NJ7968","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O431922/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O431922","accessionNumber":"1151-1869","objectType":"Painting","titles":[{"title":"Varaha or Boar avatar of Vishnu","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"William Simpson (1823 - 1899) was a distinguished watercolourist and war artist. Having established his reputation by documenting the Crimean war in 1854, Day and Sons, the London lithography firm, commissioned him to sketch well-known sites in and around Delhi associated with the Revolt of 1857 by Indians against the rule of the British East India Company. \r\n\r\nSimpson arrived in Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1859 and travelled widely. His rapid pencil drawings formed the preparatory studies for his finished watercolours done after his return to London in 1862. His detailed journal, sketches and pictures from India resulted in these highly coloured, evocative, and romantic interpretations of the landscape and architecture.\r\n\r\nThis watercolour, completed in London, shows a sculpture of Varaha, the half-man and half-boar incarnation of Vishnu, lifting the earth goddess Prithvi. A month before his return, Simpson spent several days making rapid pencil sketches of the sacred interior spaces at the cave complex at Ellora. This sculpture resides in a cave called ‘Ravan ki Khai’ in Ellora, India. ","physicalDescription":"Painting of a sculpture of Varaha, the half-man and half-boar incarnation of Vishnu, lifting the earth goddess Prithvi. He holds a Sudarshana Chakra, the divine wheel, in his other hand. An ascetic, clad in an orange dhoti, sits before the deity while he prays. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Simpson, William RI FRGS","id":"A10511"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour (paint)","id":"AAT15045"},{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting (technique)","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on paper","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2023NJ7968"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES403504"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Painting","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1866","earliest":"1866-01-01","latest":"1866-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased from Messrs Day and Son Ltd (London) in 1869","dimensions":[{"dimension":"","value":"","unit":"","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"350","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"250","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"<i>Front </i>- Varaha or Boar avatar of Vishnu. Sculpture in the cave called the Ravan ki Khai, or “Ravan’s ditch”. Ellora. Wm. Simpson, 1866. ","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"<i>Back</i> - Avatar of Vishnu, Ellora…\r\n\r\n228. Varaha or Boar Avatar of Vishnu, Ellora.\r\nThis very fine piece of sculpture is in the cave called the Ravan Ki Khai, or Ravan’s Ditch. This was the third Avatar of Vishnu, when he saved the world which had been destroyed, and sank to the bottom of the sea. The usual way is to represent the world supported by the tusks of the boar; in this sculpture the world is symbolled by a woman, whom he holds up, while his foot is on a serpent with a female head, and the other figures of the Hindoo mythology fill up the space. The wheel is held here in the hand as one of the symbols of Vishnu as well as Buddha.   ","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"William Simpson (1823 - 1899), born in Glasgow, was a distinguished watercolourist and war artist. Following a seven-year apprenticeship with a specialist lithographic firm, he moved to London in February 1851 and found employment with Day and Sons. Having established his reputation by documenting the Crimean war in 1854, he was commissioned to sketch well-known sites in and around Delhi associated with the Revolt of 1857 against the rule of the British East India Company. \r\n\r\nSimpson arrived in Calcutta (Kolkata) at the end of October 1859 and travelled extensively. Throughout his life, he kept careful diaries, and his hundreds of sketches and pictures form an invaluable record of his travels. He planned to produce four large volumes with approximately 250 plates to be lithographed as illustrations. He spent seven years on the project – three years making preparatory works and the rest in London working his sketches into finished paintings. His life and work in India resulted in these highly coloured, evocative, and romantic interpretations of the landscape and architecture.\r\n\r\nWhile Simpson was away, Day and Son had been drifting into debt. In 1867, before it finally went into liquidation at the end of the year, Simpson was made a company shareholder as part payment for his work. Two years later, his collection of 250 watercolours were sold as bankrupt stock. The V&A purchased 44 original watercolours from Day & Son, Limited (London) in 1869. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Painting of Varaha, Ravan ki Khai, Ellora, India by William Simpson, pencil and watercolour on paper, London, 1866.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Registered File number RF/1869/6716"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["1151-1869"],"accessionNumberNum":"1151","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1869,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-26","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-25","availableToBook":true}}