ART OF THE EAST AND OF THE WEST. 85

I give a typical example of tlie ordinary attitude, a.
* quotation from Mr. MaskelFs book on " Ivories " :

" There is a sameness, a repetition, an overloading, a crowd-
ing and elaboration of detail which become wearisome before we
have gone very far. We are spoken to of things, and in a language
of which we are ignorant. We regard them with a listless kind of
attention. In a word, we are not interested. We feel that the
artist has ever been bound and enslaved by the traditions of Hindu
mythology. We are met at every tarn by the interminable proees-
-sions of monstrous gods and goddesses, these Buddhas and
Krishnas, Vishnus and Ramas, these hideous deities with animals'
heads and innumerable arms, these dancing women with expres-
sionless faces and strange garments......... In his figures the

Hindu artist seems absolutely incapable—it may be reluctant—to
reproduce the human form; he ignores anatomy, he appears to
have no idea of giving any expression to the features. There is
no distinction between tho work of one man and another. Is the
•name of a single artist familiar ? The reproduction oŁ type is
literal: one divinity resembles another, and we can only distinguish
them by their attributes, or by the more or less hideous occupa-
tions in which they may be supposed to be engaged."

This ignorant and childish rhodoinontacle is here
quoted only becaxise it is so typical. Perhaps the easiest
way to show its true value would be to ask you to imagine
•similar words spoken by an Oriental, who should substi-
tute the word " Christian " for the word " Hindu " :
•" Enslaved by the traditions of Christian mythology,
interminable processions of crucifixes and Madonnas"—
would not this be an idle criticism of medieval European
art?

I take another instance. Professor Nelson Fraser,
an English teacher in India, and a student of Indian art
and religious ideas, tells us that one day he had a young
lady visitor from England, something of an artist, and she
was examining his treasures gathered from East and West
and of all periods. She flitted lightly over the Hindu
bronzes and settled down on a case of Greek coins. He
xemonsratecl against this, and pointed out that she might
-see the Greek coins any day at the British Museum,