Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c10.142

c10.142

In an essay on the Indian Schools of Painting Mr. Vincent Smith says that "whoever seriously undertakes the critical study of the paintings of Ajanta and Bagh will find, I have no doubt, that the artists drew their inspiration from the West, and I think he will also find that their style is a local development of the cosmopolitan art of the contemporary Roman empire."¹ Here again I venture to think that Mr. Vincent Smith, like Professor Grünwedel and others, confuses the assimilation of foreign technique by Indian traditional craftsmanship with artistic inspiration. The Buddhist monastic schools of Northern India, from which the art of Ajanta was derived, were sufficiently cosmopolitan in character to account for all the foreign details which are found in these paintings, but their title to be considered Indian is just as valid as that of the schools of Athens to An empty page with no printed text.