A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c10.s3.23

c10.s3.23

The best works of the Gandhāra school are deserving of high commendation for their aesthetic, technical, and phonetic qualities, to use Fergusson's terminology; or, in other words, because they are intrinsically beautiful, skilfully executed, and well adapted to express both the ideal of the artist and the religious sentiment of his patrons. The great defect of the later mediaeval sculpture is that it is so often ugly and repulsive, even when entitled to praise for power, technical skill, or vigorous expression—or even for all those three qualities. The Gandhāran work is rarely either ugly or repulsive, and that in India is no small merit.