Paintings of India & Technique: Mural and Miniature Paintings for NET, IAS, State-SET (KSET, WBSET, MPSET, etc.), GATE, CUET, Olympiads etc.
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Paintings of India
- In Kamasutra, painting is tslisted as one of the fine arts out of 64 fine arts.
- Vatsayana has mentioned 6 principals (limbs) of painting.
- Shadanga (6 limbs/principals)
- Rupbheda
- Praman
- Lavan yojanam
- Sadrashyam
- Bhaav
- Varnika bhanga
Mural Paintings
- They are large works executed on the walls of the large structure
- Ajanta caves, Lepakdhi temple, Ellora caves etc
- Mostly done during Gupta age
Mural Paintings of Gupta Age
- Ajanta paintings
- Expression of emotions through hand postures
- Birds and animals are also shown with emotions
- Fresco paintings
- Tempera style used-using pigments
- Theme Buddhism jataka tales, life of Buddha
- Bagh paintings
- Same as Ajanta paintings
- Ellora paintings
- Theme Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism
- Scenes of Ramayana and Mahabharata
- Shiva as Natraj, battle scenes, elephant in the lotus pond
- Techniques same as Ajanta paintings
Mural Paintings of Vijayanagar Empire
- Lepakshi paintings
- Flourished during Vijayanagara kingdom
- Theme not religious but secular
- Complete absence of primary colours
- Bad quality
- Decline in paintings
- Some of the wall paintings of this declining period in the reign of Prince of Travancore in Kerala
- In the palaces of Jaipur in Rajasthan and in the Rangmahal of the Chamba palace in Himachal Pradesh are worth mentioning.
Miniature Painting
- Very detailed and small paintings
- Executed on very small scale
- In books, manuscripts or on other material like paper, cloth and even glass
Technique
- Paintings were executed in the traditional tempera technique.
- After mixing colors in water along with a binding medium, they were applied on the drawing.
- First, the sketch was freely drawn in red or black over which white priming was given.
- The surface was thoroughly burnished till the outline showed clearly through it.
- Then a second outline was drawn with a fine brush.
- First, the background was colored and then the sky, buildings and trees, etc.
- Figures were painted last of all after which a final outline was drawn.
- When copies were made from perforated sketches by rubbing charcoal powder, the dotted outline took the place of the first drawing.
- Colors used in paintings were obtained from minerals and ochers.
- Indigo was the vegetable color.
- Lac-dye and red carmine were obtained from insects.
Technical Rule for Miniature Painting
- Miniature painting՚s size should not greater than inch square
- The subject must not be painted greater than one sixth of its original size
- Paintings are not merely about size but also the level of detail that differentiates it from small paintings
- Miniature is derived from latin word minium meaning red led paint used in illuminated manuscript during renaissance
- It has nothing to do with size.
Features of Indian Miniature Painting
- Most human characters are shown with side profile
- Big eyes
- Pointed nose
- Women-slim waste, long hair
- Skin colour-brown
- Hair and eye-black
- Skin colour of Krishna-blue
- Dress-traditional indian dress
- Men have turbans on their head
- Initially natural colours were used
- Famous painters-vaachak, Nihaal chand
Various Types of Miniature Painting
- Pal school of painting
- Apabhransha school
- Mughal painting