Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c77.273

v2.c77.273

“Of the Indian painter, as an individual, little is known. The artists of other countries of the East appear as actual characters, their names and systems of working and living, their personal aspirations, their eccentricities and very failings, have been handed down to posterity. It is possible to live with them and share their joys and sorrows. As an example, the Japanese painter was above everything else a Bohemian, indifferent to the ordinary conventions of society, his existence depending entirely on the course of his art. But the story of the Indian artist, if such the meagre records can be called, presents nothing tangible. The painter, whether Buddhist, Rajput, or Mughal, walks through the pages of history a somewhat elusive being. Only his pictures remain to prove that he was a man of no little character, and absorbed in his work. In these productions a certain personality is discernible, but of an abstract nature, difficult to focus as an actual individual in relation to this art.