Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c10.s1.25

c10.s1.25

From the history of the development of the convention of protruding eyes, it is apparent that there was a sort of struggle between the old convention of three-quarter view and the new convention leaning towards profile, and gradually the latter was ousting the former. The rigid convention of three-quarter view was of much older standing to be eliminated all of a sudden, and, therefore, as an unconscious compromise between the old and the new, the painters allowed to remain in the new convention the representation of a part of the farther forehead and the eye which protrudes into space, owing to the pinching of the cheek. How far the ancient convention of three-quarter view has degenerated towards profile in Western Indian painting can be judged by the simple method of drawing a line from the middle of the forehead to the chin of a human figure. It will be seen then that, except for the farther eye and the portion of the forehead, the head is in profile. In later Western Indian paintings even the length of the farther forehead diminishes, and only the farther eye protruding into space remains to tell the origin of this view from three-quarter view.