Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c22.3

c22.3

In the details of this method of instruction there is a striking analogy to that employed in teaching spelling and writing. Each traditional design was regarded as a word, and each minor element of the design was extracted and practised separately like a letter out of the word. When the pupil was ‘ letter perfect ’ in each portion, the next step would be for him to combine these and so make up the finished design or ‘ word ’. In a similar manner all knowledge was acquired in the East; by constant repetition the student’s mind was saturated with the elements of his subject so that it became part of his nature. Classical writings and sacred books were memorized on somewhat the same mechanical system which is maintained in many oriental countries to the present day. One would anticipate that such a method, in art at least, would tend to crush all initiative, and would so deaden the inventive faculties that it would produce nothing better than a mere copying machine, a soulless creature dependent on the brains of his forefathers and relying in no sense on his own. That such is not the case, however, is proved by the high standard of the arts in the orient, as practically the same procedure for teaching the subject in India prevailed in Persia, Tibet, China, and Japan. It is no exaggeration to say that compared with the rigid and apparently mechanical system of art training that was customary in most countries of Asia for many centuries, the so-called South Kensington system in England is a model of flexibility. In the East, while genius in art counted for something, skilled manipulation counted for much more; what was regarded as the highest artistic qualification was not talent, or the faculty for understanding beauty, form, colour, or an appreciation of nature, but trained craftsmanship, perfect control of the hand and eye, and to acquire this technical ability the artist was quite prepared to repeat the same series of exercises day after day and for several years with that deadly persistency in which the oriental alone excels.