[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Architecture and art](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art) › [Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908) › c12.151 # Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c12.151 Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c12.151 - **Language:** English ### [c12.151](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908.c12.151) In the foregoing brief explanation of Indian sculpture and painting I have endeavoured to indicate, by the aid of some of those masterpieces, unfortunately few, which have been salved from the wreckage of a great civilisation and culture, the principal psychological impulses through which the ideals of Indian fine art have been created. We have seen, first, an epoch inspired by intense religious fervour, analogous to the Romanesque and Gothic epochs of European art, in which the Indian people, dissatisfied with abstract ideals, and yearning for tangible symbols of their spiritual desires and beliefs, began by using the means provided for them by an alien faith and art—just as the early Christians first adopted the art of pagan Rome. Gradually the national consciousness, building on this foundation, evolved its own artistic ideals—ideals as different from the original types as Gothic art differs from Roman—and thus created that Indian art which gave it its inspiration to the whole æsthetic thought of Asia. - [Previous: c12.150](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908.c12.150) - [Next: c12.152](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908.c12.152) - [Up: c12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908.c12) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908.c12.151](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908.c12.151) · Pramāṇa