A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c9.s2.100

c9.s2.100

Mr. H. C. P. Bell, Archaeological Commissioner, acting under instructions from the Government of Ceylon, has liberally supplied me with a collection of considerably more than a hundred photographs, from which I have selected a few. The general impression on my mind is that, with the exception of some of the colossal statues, the bronzes, which are very good, but may have been cast in India, and a few other works, the production of the island sculptors is by no means equal to that of the best artists on the mainland. The style is Indian, with a difference. We must remember that many of the Ceylonese images were originally plastered and coloured, and that the rough, weather-worn blocks now visible do not produce the effect designed by the artists. I have endeavoured to select typical examples.