A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c14.6

c14.6

The literary evidence thus summarily indicated would alone amply prove the early and continuous practice of the painter's art in both India and Ceylon; but it is unnecessary to labour the proof from books, because evidence of a more satisfactory kind is furnished by the considerable surviving remains of ancient painting from the second century before Christ; which, even in their present fragmentary and mutilated state, enable the modern critic to appraise the style of the early Indian artists, and to recognize the just claim of the art of India and Ceylon to take high rank among the ancient schools of painting. We will now proceed to give in this chapter an account of the extant remains of Indian and Ceylonese painting from the second century before Christ to the middle of the seventh century of the Christian era.