Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c10.44

c10.44

The contrast of the two characters is given with a depth of penetration which belongs only to the grandest portraiture. In Bhima's head the artist, with a few bold, clearly drawn forms, shows us the born fighter and leader of men. In the large, square forehead, the full, firm jaw, the eyes set wide apart, and the determined mouth—half-savage, even cruel when his blood is roused—we recognise a young Alexander, a fighter who knows his own strength and revels in it. All his desires and aims are human, yet there is nothing low or brutal in his nature. He is a great national hero, a war-lord fit to lead and command a noble, free-born race.