Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v1.c3.5

v1.c3.5

The proposal for the reproduction of the frescoes by colour photography, although most welcome to His Exalted Highness’s Government, at first appeared impracticable, for through the neglect of centuries moisture and dirt had formed a crust over the paintings, which it was difficult to remove owing to the varnish which some archaeologists and artists had laid on the paintings with the idea of brightening their detail and safeguarding them from climatic effects. These injudicious measures, although undertaken with good intentions, have, in the course of a quarter of a century, not only made the fine brushwork of the frescoes more indistinct, but have in some cases, where the varnish was of a bad quality (copal) and where the dirt had not been removed beforehand from the fresco, converted the entire painting into