A Buddhist Monk - 1867

This chromolithograph is taken from plate 35 of William Simpson's 'India: Ancient and Modern'. A Buddhist monk is shown seated while chanting from leaves of scriptures and turning a prayer-wheel. An artist and lithographer who had covered the Crimean war, Simpson came to India and completed around 250 superb watercolours, of which 50 appear in this album. He concentrated on the life and scenes of the India he saw around him rather than ancient relics, and provided westerners with pictures of contemporary India for the first time.

Source : British Library