The Maharahaj of Gwalior Before His Palace

Weeks's painting of the Maharajah of Gwalior before his palace was produced following his extended travels through Rajputana in the mid-1880s, documented in his 1896 book From the Black Sea Through Persia and India. The Maharajah Jayajirao Scindia of Gwalior was one of the most powerful Indian princes under the British Raj, whose Jai Vilas Palace — a neo-classical confection of Italian marble — Weeks captures with the attention to architectural detail he developed through years of documenting Islamic architecture. The contrast between the European-inspired palace and the traditionally dressed maharajah was the kind of cultural juxtaposition that appealed to Western audiences.

Weeks sets the maharajah's figure against the palace façade's strong horizontal architecture, using a high, hazy Indian sky as background. The ceremonial elephants and attendants recede in accurate atmospheric perspective, while the principal figure is rendered with the sharp-edged portrait detail expected of a formal commission.