Seated Buddha, from the Monument of Borobudur, Java
late 19th-mid 20th century

Joseph Lindon Smith 1863-1950)
Oil on canvas
H: 10.8 W: 51.5 cm
United States

Joseph Lindon Smith was born at Pawtucket, Rhode Island. After studying at the Boston School of Fine Arts for two years, he worked at the Julian Academy under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre before returning in 1884 to Boston as a professional artist. Smith was renowned in his time for meticulous copies of ancient artifacts. The artist used a special technique that involved applying paint directly from the tube to the canvas. The result was a dry granular surface intended to simulate the flatness and texture of bas reliefs. (Dr. M. Mahudi Allam, Joseph Lindon Smith, the Man and the Artist, Ministry of Education, Cairo, 1949, p. 7.) Monochromatic tones of gray, green, and beige added to the illusion of rough stone. His paintings were prominent in the early collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Art and the Fogg Museum at a time when casts of famous sculpture were used for study and exhibition and it was not thought unusual to either execute or display copies of masterpieces and archaeological remains.

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