Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c10.46

c10.46

We have seen that the medieval texts on Indian painting have preserved detailed descriptions of various technical processes involved in painting, and that they all aim at careful execution. It may be, however, remarked that, while following some of the injunctions of these learned treatises in the matters of drawing first sketches, preparation of colours and ground, etc., the painters were evolving a popular technique of their own, which abhorred modelling or shading, eschewed details and tried to simplify lines. In the paper period, the horizon of the painters seems to have extended, perhaps, by the indirect influence of Persian art, and more complicated compositions are the result, but there does not seem to be any technical advancement, except in the careful border decorations and the use of gold and ultramarine.