Lot 18: GEORGE LANDSEER

GEORGE LANDSEER 1829 - 1878 'THE MAHOMEDEN TEMPLE AT BISSASIR GHAT' Signed, dated and inscribed 'George Landseer/ 1861/ Sketch of Ghat(indecipherable) Minarets/ Benares', inscribed on a label 'Mahomeden Temple at Bissasir Ghat, Benares' on reverse Oil on canvas 61 by 43 cm. (24 by 17 in.)

Private US Collection

'Bissasir' ghat is not a recognised ghat in Benares but is it possible that Landseer's 'Bissasir' is referring to the Bisheshwar temple which originally stood where the Alamgir Mosque now stands. The Vishnu temple built by Beni Madhav Rao Scindia in the seventeenth century extended from Panchganga ghat to Ram ghat. A few decades later the temple was destroyed by Emperor Aurangzeb and the Alamgir or Great Mosque as it came to known was erected in its place.