At the Well

This is an interesting preparatory sketch and there is a reference to a painting by Raja Ravi Varma which was sent to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893. It is said Raja Ravi Varma sent a painting with the following description "At the Well depicts a daughter-in-law of a South Indian brahmin house who is tired of her chores yet her mother in law never ceases scolding her." The woman who attending to the child is wearing a nine-yard saree worn by the Tamil Iyer community of South India. The old woman strikes a pose of domination. It is therefore probable this sketch was a preparatory drawing for the painting "At the Well"