id: 148703 accession number: 1976.156 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1976.156 updated: 2023-05-17 11:14:47.509000 The Paranirvana of Buddha, Gal Vihara, Polonnaruva, Ceylon, 1870–71. Joseph Lawton (British, d. 1874). Albumen print; image: 21.4 x 28.2 cm (8 7/16 x 11 1/8 in.); matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Louise S. Richards 1976.156 title: The Paranirvana of Buddha, Gal Vihara, Polonnaruva, Ceylon title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1870–71 creation date earliest: 1870 creation date latest: 1871 current location: creditline: Gift of Louise S. Richards copyright: --- culture: England, 19th century technique: albumen print department: Photography collection: PH - British 19th Century type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Joseph Lawton (British, d. 1874) - artist Joseph Lawton British, d. 1874 In the 1860s Joseph Lawton immigrated to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), opening a studio at Kandy in 1866. His most important known work is a series of views of ancient ruins in Ceylon, commissioned in 1870-71, that accompanied a survey by the Committee of Ancient Architecture. Lawton's death in 1874 was attributed to health problems contracted during this work. His widow continued to operate the firm of J. Lawton and Co., listed as photographers to the Duke of Edinburgh, until it closed in 1881. T.W.F. --- measurements: Image: 21.4 x 28.2 cm (8 7/16 x 11 1/8 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in pencil on recto of mount: "Reclining Buddha at the Gal Vihara Polonnaruva"; in pencil on verso: "#15" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review, 1976 opening date: 1977-02-01T05:00:00 Year in Review, 1976. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 1-March 6, 1977). title: Text and Image in Southern Asia​ (Indian Painting and Himalayan rotation) opening date: 2022-08-26T04:00:00 Text and Image in Southern Asia​ (Indian Painting and Himalayan rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26, 2022-March 5, 2023). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Selection of Photography from the CMA, 1979. Beck Center, Lakewood, OH (1979). * Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 245). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (December 31, 2013–June 30, 2014). --- PROVENANCE Louise S. Richards, Oberlin, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?–1976 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1976– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: During the British colonial period in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), a 12th-century monastic establishment with a colossal stone sculpture of the reclining Buddha had fallen into ruins. The photographer’s intentional inclusion of a Sri Lankan man, leaning against a pillar at the front of the composition, and a colonial Englishman, clambering over Buddha’s body, underscores how differently they interact with the site. The Sri Lankan visitor views the ruins with devotional reverence; the Englishman treats it as a place of adventurous entertainment. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced: P. 221 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.156/1976.156_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.156/1976.156_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.156/1976.156_full.tif