# Hindu Merchants

**Edwin Lord Weeks** (born Boston, MA 1849-died Paris, France 1903)  
ca. 1885  
oil on canvas  
28 3/8 x 22 7/8 in. (72.2 x 58.0 cm)

Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1924.7.1. [The museum's record](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=27286).

## About this work

Edwin Lord Weeks traveled to India in 1883, following many years of travel throughout North Africa. A photographer as well as a painter, he wrote in his letters that he wandered the streets by day and developed his photographs at night. He reveled in the local culture, paying particular attention to the details of dress and customs. He was less interested in royalty than in the everyday lives of people he encountered in the streets. Weeks relied on his photographs to supply the rich details of Indian architecture: elaborately carved cornices and arches filled with polychromed geometric and floral designs speak to the visual sophistication of Indian civilization. The lasting impact of his paintings was to bring alive a culture with which most of his American patrons were unfamiliar.

_Text from the Smithsonian American Art Museum._

Edwin Lord Weeks painted this in about 1885, aged 36. It is now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Edwin Lord Weeks](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/edwin-lord-weeks)

born Boston, MA 1849-died Paris, France 1903

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: Hindus
- The artist was 36
- Real size: about 28 × 23 in (72 × 58 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 16 × 20 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 19th century
- Subjects: Commercial, Animals, Architecture, Occupations, Men, Dogs, Figure group, Horses
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1870.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1870/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/hindu-merchants-si-saam-1924-7-1).