Bringing the bodies of the prince and princess to the funeral tower thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Bringing the bodies of the prince and princess to the funeral tower

Painting
1923 (sketched), 1923-1925 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The picture depicts part of the cremation ceremonies in bringing the bodies of the Prince and Princess to the Funeral Tower.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleBringing the bodies of the prince and princess to the funeral tower (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Pencil and watercolour on paper
Brief description
Bringing two bodies to the funeral tower; Paintings, watercolour, Miss E Tharle-Hughes, 1923-25
Physical description
The picture depicts part of the cremation ceremonies in bringing the bodies of the Prince and Princess to the Funeral Tower.
Dimensions
  • Height: 612mm
  • Width: 487mm
15/05/2013 dimensions measured as part of Indian Paintings Cataloguing Project 2013.
Marks and inscriptions
'Elfrida Tharle-Hughes' (Signed by the artist on bottom right.)
Credit line
Given by the artist
Object history
Part of a series of drawings (IM.42 to 45-1928) in watercolours by Elfrida Tharle-Hughes depicting the cremation ceremonies of a prince and princess of Bangli State, Bali Island, Dutch East Indies.

According to the artist, the date of the actual cremation was 7th September, 1923, but the watercolours were done in London (from sketches of backgrounds and compositions done at the time in Bangli) in time for her exhibition at the Redfern Gallery in Bond Street, London in May 1925. The artist also claimed to be the first European artist who had been given full facilities for making paintings of this subject.

Elfrida Tharle-Hughes (1874-1950) was an English artist, born in Ryde, Isle of Wight on the 25th April 1874. She had two siblings, Esther (1871) and Reggie (1873). They were the only grand-children of Jabez Hughes (1819-84), Photographer to Queen Victoria whilst at Osborne House, and lived at Jabez’s photographic studio at 60-60 ½ Union Street, Ryde. Her family name was originally ‘Hughes’, added ‘Tharle’ in1921 in gratitude to her mother for the sacrifices she made bringing her up after their Father’s premature death at 35.

Elfrida received art training at the Slade School of Fine Art in London and ateliers in Paris. She spent two years travelling to Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, India, Burma, Thailand and Indonesia in the 1920s and had produced several drawings in watercolours, of which she donated five pictures to the V&A in 1928.
Bibliographic reference
Salaman, Malcolm C. “A gossip about prints and watercolours” in Apollo: A journal of the Arts, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1925, pp. 295-299.
Collection
Accession number
IM.44-1928

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Record createdJune 25, 2009
Record URL
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