[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Architecture and art](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art) › [Mediaeval Sinhalese Art](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908) › c19.42 # Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c19.42 Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c19.42 - **Language:** English ### [c19.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908.c19.42) We are not told, and do not want to be told, what the animal itself was like, but what it meant to the men who painted it, what it was like for them, and so what they were like. As I have said above (p. 87), the artist’s lion need be like no lion on earth or in any zoological garden; the artist is not preparing the plates of a work on natural history; but makes his lion at once a portrait of the universe and an expression of the whole theory of his national existence. At the same time it must be recognized that the eighteenth century craftsman in Ceylon was merely making use of such expressions already formulated, and was not himself a creator. The same applies to the imager, who used the formula, and was influenced, no doubt, by the suggestions of such verses as those just quoted, but can hardly at this time have been accustomed to practise meditation and mental visualising as truly great Indian artists have always done. - [Previous: c19.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908.c19.41) - [Next: c19.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908.c19.43) - [Up: c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908.c19) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908.c19.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908.c19.42) · Pramāṇa