THE INFLUENCE OF MODERN EUROPE ON INDIAN ART. 81

art. Mr. Havell succeeded in revising the whole course of
instruction, making Indian art the basis of the teaching.
This was not done without opposition from the Bengalis
themselves, who saw in these proceedings only a sinister
attempt to discourage high art in Bengal. .Two pieces
of good fortune attended Mr. Ha veil's efforts, one the
opportunity of acquiring for the Calcutta gallery a large
number of paintings of the finest Moghul period, many of
them by Shah Jahan's court painters, and secondly, and
most important, the discovery of Mr. Abanindra Nath
Tagore. This artist had until then followed European
ideas of artistic expression, but soon, realised the significance
of Indian art traditions and set himself to study their
technique and recover something of their spirit. Mr.
Tagore afterwards became Yice-Principal, and finally
acting Principal of the Calcutta School of Art,—the first >
and with the exception of Lahore, and now, perhaps, of
Madras, the only modern school of art in India related
effectively to the past traditions of Indian art, and to the
new national spirit of self-realisation. Tagore's own work
is a significant omen of what may be given to the world of
India, when the Indian people realize to the full the duty
which, is theirs, not to borrow what they can from others,
biit themselves to give.

Of Tagore's work, a number of examples have been
reproduced in the * Studio,' and others in the " Modern
Beview." The best of them is perhaps * The Banished
Yaksha', illustrating the well-known work of Kalidasa,
Megha Dutta. Mr. Tagore has painted also * The Passing
of Shah Jahan7; the 4 Siddlias of the Upper Air?;
* Aurangazeb Examining the Head of Dara/ and there are
other important works, some of which are . reproduced in
Mr, HavelFs " Indian Painting and Sculpture." There
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