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Accession #	77.150.1
Artist	Edwin Lord Weeks
Title	Temples and Bathing Ghat at Benares
Date	ca. 1883-1885
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	19 15/16 x 29 15/16 in. (50.6 x 76 cm)
Signed	Signed lower left: "E. L. Weeks / Benares"
Credit Line	Gift of Walter Prosser
Location	Visible Storage: Case 16, Screen B (Paintings)

Curatorial Remarks: Weeks probably painted this seemingly spontaneous sketch of the banks of the Ganges River in the sacred city of Benares during his first extended visit to India, in 1882–83. It most likely served as one of many preparatory studies for his large and important painting The Last Journey, Souvenir of the Ganges, Benares, exhibited to acclaim at the Paris Salon of 1885. Although the broad brushwork of this study is characteristic of his sketches executed on the spot, its size suggests that it may have been painted in his temporary studio in Benares, perhaps with the aid of some of the photographs that he also employed to document his firsthand observations.