82 ESSAYS IN NATIONAL IDEALISM.

can be traced in these works both European and Japanese
influence ; but their significance lies in what is after all
their essential Indianness. These delicate water colours,
portfolio pictures like those that delighted the Moghul
Emperor's court of old, are supremely tender, and carry in
them that mingled reticence and revelation that belong
to all great art, but which demand something also of
the public, before they can be fully understood and realised.
Such work, a true expression of Indian nationalism, is the
flowering of the old tradition; a flower that speaks not
only of past loveliness, but is strong and vigorous with
promise of abundant fruit.

Several pupils hav*e indeed already followed in
Tagore's footsteps. The pictures, * The Flight of
Lakshman Sen ', by the late Surenclra !N"ath Ganguly, and
* Raja Yikram ' and the 4 Vampire', by Nanda Lai
Bose, reproduced in the * Studio' of July, 1908, are full
of promise; and indeed remarkable as the work of men so
young. The best of ISfanda Lai Bose's work is the wonder-
ful ' Sati' with its burden of passionate self-devotion.
Almost equally perfect in another way is the i Kaikeyi *
and 'Agni' most vigorously drawn and magnificently
coloured. The same artists' copies of Ajanta frescoes are
most accomplished. A younger painter whose work has
attracted much attention is "Venkata Appa. What is now
most needed for the healthy development of Indian
painting is real and generous patronage and intelligent and
sympathetic criticism. Indiscriminate abuse or overpraise
are alike more than useless. J$o art can live entirely
alone. It must have its public—those for whom it is made
* and who can co-operate with the artist himself. Only a
great demand can recreate a living art.

Great art or science is the flower of a free national