Lot 240: Manchershaw Fakirjee Pithawalla (1872 - 1937)

Parsi Lady
Signed and dated on lower left side: M.F. Pithawalla 1920.
Oil on canvas
39 1/4 x 29 1/4 in. (99.5 x 74 cm.)

Y. Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art - The Progressives, New Delhi, 2001, p. 11, pl. 3.

Pithawalla was among the first generation of artists to graduate from the Sir J. J. School of Art at the turn of the 20th century. Working in a manner reminiscent of Raja Ravi Varma, Pithawalla is best known for his portraits of Bombay gentry. He portrayed the lives and likenesses of his patrons: the aristocracy and haute bourgeoisie enshrining the values of the Victorian colonial establishment through his lavish attention to detail.