Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c6.2

c6.2

PAINTING in ancient India was a favourite mode of expression in art. There are innumerable references to painting in the contemporary literature which show that the art of painting had reached the highest degree of excellence both from the technical and aesthetic points of view. It is evident from literature that there were guilds of painters, which were commissioned to decorate the palaces and temples with excellent wall-paintings. Painting was also considered as an accomplishment of princes, nobles and highly placed citizens, and formed a part of the regular curriculum of studies. Not only men but also women of high social status attained proficiency in this gentle art, and there are many love stories in which the lovers are shown assuaging their grief of separation by means of the portraits of their beloved.