A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day (Classic Reprint)

Book Synopsis: The purpose of this book is to give for the first time a chronological, descriptive History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon from the third century B.C. to the present day, with criticism of the aesthetic merits of the works described. The art history is treated throughout in close connection with political and religious revolutions. In criticism, the judgments of experts have been utilized as far as possible. Necessary limitations of space forbid elaborate explanations of the mythological or historical significance of individual works. Ceylon is included because the art of the island is almost wholly Indian, and some readers may find the sections dealing with the artistic productions of Ceylon among the most novel and interesting portions of the work. A summary notice of the remarkable mediaeval development of purely Indian art in remote Java appears to be essential to a right presentation of the story, and a similarly slight account of recent discoveries in Chinese Turkistan is equally indispensable. But neither of those two large subjects can be treated in detail. No attempt is made to pursue the ramifications of Indian art in Burma and the Far East, where it is profoundly modified by Chinese ideas. Materials have been collected for a supplementary chapter on European Art and Artists in India, but want of space compels me to omit that subject. The book, as it stands, is much more bulky than it was originally intended to be, and I confess that the amount of matter available has surprised me. The objects noticed have been carefully selected to the best of my taste and ability, but I cannot expect everybody to agree with my choice. The completion of a comprehensive review of the whole field of Indian Art has necessarily involved the revision of opinions expressed in earlier publications and based on more imperfect knowledge. The rough distinction drawn between...(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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