Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c7.22

c7.22

Mr. Vincent Smith, whose "Early History of India" is one of the classics of oriental research, in the following words voices the usual Anglo-Indian view of Indian fine art, and the reasoned opinion of orientalists: "The Gandhara, or Peshawur sculptures . . . would be admitted, by most persons competent to form an opinion, to be the best specimens of the plastic art ever known to exist in India. Yet even these are only echoes of the second-rate Roman art of the third and fourth centuries. In the elaboration of minute, intricate, and often extremely pretty, ornamentation on stone, it is true, the Indian artists are second to none. The stone-cutters in Gandhara and at Amarâvati display the same skill in drawing elaborate patterns, and the same skill in executing them, which we now admire in the work of the modern carpet-weavers and vase-makers. But in the expression of human passions and emotions Indian art has completely failed, except during the time when it was held in Græco-Roman leading-strings, and it has scarcely, at any time, essayed an attempt to give visible form to any divine ideal.”¹