GUNUNG LAWU PAINTED BY ARTHUR ELAND

 

ARTHUR ELAND (1884-1948)
Gunung Lawu ( 3,265 m - 10,712 ft)
Indonesia (Java)

In "Mountains in Indonesia", oil on canvas, 1912, Private collection

The painter 

There is not much biographical information about Arthur Eland, except that he was Leo Eland's twin brother. These two Dutch  brothers were born in 1884 in the Dutch East Indies on Java in Salatiga. After the death of Arthur and since the 1970s, many of his canvases and watercolors representing large Indonesian volcanic landscapes have gone into auctions especially at Christie's and have acquired unmistakable market value. Christie's classified him as a  "colonial impressionist painter". Impressionist he certainly  is, no doubt about it.

The mountain
Gunung Lawu is a massive compound stratovolcanostraddling the border between East Java and Central Java, Indonesia. The north side is deeply eroded and the eastern side contains parasitic crater lakes and parasitic cones. A fumarolic area is located on the south flank at 2,550 m. The only reported activity of Lawu took place in 1885, when rumblings and light volcanic ash falls were reported. The recent study provided insights into geothermal heat flow suggesting that Mt. Lawu is still active today.
Mount Lawu is the home of the God Parwatarajadewa(also called Hyang Girinatha in the manuscript Serat Centhini). The New Javanese manuscript Serat Manikmaya states that Mount Lawu is part of the eighteen sacred mountains of Central Java, and scholars agree that it had great religious significance to the Hindus of Java. Poerbatjaraka stated that the original name of Lawu is Katong, which means God. The name Katong is likely associated with the ruins of Mount Meru, the sacred five peaked mountain and center of the universe. This assosiation makes it likely that it is a seat of God, for which it is named. The last mention of this name was in the reign of Bhre Kertabhumi (1474-1478), and the first mention of Mount Lawu was in the Bhujangga Manik in the early 16th century, which indicates the name change took place between the 15th and 16th centuries, coinciding with the Islamic invasion.

___________________________________________
2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau