THE INFLUENCE OF MODERN EUROPE ON INDIAN ART. 73

.-agnostics*—Westminster Abbey left unfinished, Gothic
--art no more the vehicle of the national religious sense ;
imagine the invaders also destroying the possibility of
popular art in the other ways referred to, and you will
have some picture of what has taken place in India.

But it is but fair to refer to the few efforts that have
been made directly or indirectly, by Englishmen, officially
-or otherwise, to save the Indian arts from extinction. We
have occasional efforts to build in the style of the country,
.•as in Lahore, but these are not more successful than
XlXth century efforts in Europe to build in XIY century
wise. We have the establishment of schools of art in
.India, with good intention, but, in the opinion of even,
most English artists, bad results; even where great and
.-good work is done, as now in Calcutta, its continuance is
-at the mercy of chance selection of a Principal having
knowledge and sympathy adequate to the situation. We
have the publication of books and journals illustrating fine
-examples of Indian art; but these, valuable as they are,
•are really written by Englishmen for Englishmen, and are
•of more use to the English manufacturer than to the
village craftsmen ; and does the reproduction of details of
•architecture and jewellery (often ill-drawn by men not in
•the tradition) compensate in any way for the deserted
workshops and forgotten knowledge of the hereditary
•craftsmen ? Lord Curzon has done good service in securing
the preservation of Indian monuments; but archaeology
is not art: and even his appeal to the Indian aristo-

* The relation between the British Government and Indian
people is purely secular—a suggestion in itself of the evil neces-
sarily resulting from the government of one nation by another, the
difference of faith making impracticable that identification of

^sentiment between ruler and craftsmen which alone made possible

*stich buildings as Westminster Abbey,