The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c17.19

c17.19

In the story of Gandhāra art few figures afford so good an opportunity of comparing the styles of different periods as those of the crouching Atlants. Turn back, for example, to fig. 52, which is one of the earliest, and remind yourself of the giant strength of this Atlant, of the boldness and simplicity of the modelling and of its freedom from any note of self-consciousness. Then go on to fig. 108 and remark the refined and academic style of the Early Maturity Period, and the conscious effort of the sculptor to be true to his Greek prototype. And now look at the two Atlants illustrated in figs. 145 and 146, both so strikingly typical of the Later Maturity Period. Could anything be more foppish and effeminate than the former, with his carefully curled whiskers, weak mouth and languishing eyes? Or could there be a greater contrast with fig. 52 than the soft angelic form of the latter?