Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c8.50

c8.50

Though the wooden forms of construction are retained, the later sculptures of Sanchi, of which these are examples, show a perfect familiarity with the technique of stone-carving and great freedom in execution. The best figure-sculpture found here, taken in conjunction with that of Bharhut, make it abundantly clear that before the Sanchi gateways were finished, or long before any of the Gandharan sculptures were executed, India had developed an original school of sculpture, and was no longer dependent upon foreign aid, as it was, to some extent, in the time of Asoka. Indian art continued to assimilate foreign elements, as every living art will. The Gandharan sculptors, no doubt, occasionally found employment in India, but they did not come there as teachers, for India had nothing to learn from them in technique, and she deliberately chose ideals different to those of Greece.