Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c8.3

c8.3

It is necessary, however, to bear in mind that though it might be supposed that in rendering the ordinary human form and events of human existence Indian art is on exactly the same plane of thought as European, there is, nevertheless, a wide difference between them. Greek and Italian art would bring the gods to earth and make them the most beautiful of men ; Indian art raises men up to heaven and makes them even as the gods. And until the fine arts were kept quite apart from religion, as in the Mogul period, the types of divine beauty established by artistic and ritualistic tradition profoundly influenced the Indian artist's outlook upon life and the nature he saw around him.