The Interior of the cave temple at Karli, signed by William Westall A.R.A. (1781-1850), dated 1804

This rare watercolour depicts the dramatic Buddhist sanctuary at Karli, a sacred place situated between Mumbai and Pune in the State of Maharashtra.

The temple dates to the beginning of the 2^nd century and is the largest of the cave temples of the Theravada School of Buddhism.

William Westall was amongst the most intrepid British artists of his generation. Graduating from the Royal Academy schools in 1799, in 1801 he joined Matthew Flinder’s expedition to circumnavigate Australia. On the homeward journey he stopped in India, landing at Bombay at the end of April 1804. He was to stay for a number of months where he explored the temples and landscape of the region. Some of his Indian watercolours were later engraved and published within Captain Robert Melville Grindley (1786-1877), Scenery, Costumes and Architecture, Chiefly on the Western side of India, London, 1830.