Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c10.192

c10.192

The intention of the picture is best felt when it is placed so that the burnished gilt rays of the aureole reflect the light as they would in its original position behind the lamps of the Buddhist altar. We can then see that the meaning is an apotheosis of Light—Buddha, the Light of Asia, and Amîtâbha, the Buddhist Sun-god, or the principle of Infinite Light. To this mystic idea the dignified conventionalism and the almost diagrammatic simplicity of the treatment lend themselves much more impressively than a studied, elaborate naturalism.