CllAP. VII.] 



THE riJVE AKTS. 



473 



models had been established by law, and the faulty con- 

 ceptions of early times were copied and pei'petuated by 

 every succeeding artist." ^ 



The same observations apj)ly, almost in the same terms, 

 to the paintings of the Singhalese. The historical 

 delineations of the exploits of Gotama Buddha and of 

 his disciples and attendants, which at the present day 

 cover the walls of the temples and wihai'as, follow, with 

 rigid minuteness, })re-existing illustrations of the sacred 

 narratives. They appear to have been copied, Avith a 

 devout adherence to colour, costume, and detail, fiom 

 designs which from time immemorial have represented 

 the same subjects ; and emaciated ascetics, chstorted 

 devotees, beatified simpletons, and malefactors in torment 

 are depicted with a painful fidelity, aldn to modern 

 pre-Eaphaehtism. 



Owino- to this discourarrement of hivention, one series 

 of pictures is so servile an imitation of another, that 

 design has never improved in Ceylon ; one scene is but 

 the facsimile of a previous one, and each may almost 

 be regarded as an exponent of the state of the art at any 

 preceding period.^ 



^ SiK Ctakdxee Wilkinson's ^«- 

 cieni Eyyptkms, vol. iii. cli. x. p. 87, 

 2(54. 



^ The Egyptians and Singhalese 

 were not, however, the only authori- 

 ties who overwhelmed invention by 

 ecclesiastical conventionalism. The 

 early artists of Greece were not at 

 liberty to follow the bent of their 

 o%ATi genius, or to depart from esta- 

 blished regulations in representing 

 the figures of the gods. In the 

 middle ages, the influence of the 

 clim-ches, both of Rome and Byzan- 

 tium, was productive of a similar 

 result ; and although the Latins 

 early emancipated themselves, the 

 painters of the Greek chin-ch, to 

 the present hour, labour under the 

 identical trammels which crippled 

 art at Constantinople a thousand 

 years ago. iM. Didkox, who visited 



the chiu'ches and monasteries of 

 Greece in 1839, makes the remtirk 

 that " ni le temps ui le lieu ne font 

 rien al'artGrec: auXVIIP siecle, le 

 peintre Moreote continue et caique 

 le peintre Venetien du X*^, le peintre 

 Athonite du V^ ou VI^. Le costume 

 des personnages est partout et en 

 tout temps le meme, uon-seulement 

 pour la forme, mais pour la couleur, 

 mais pour le dessin, mais j usque 

 pour le nombre et Tepaissem- des 

 plis. On ne saurait pousser plus 

 loin Texactitude traditionnelle, I'es- 

 clavage du passe." { flannel iTIcono- 

 (jruphle Chrctlenne Grvcque et Latin, 

 p. ix.) The explanation of this fiict 

 is striking. Mount Athos is the 

 grand manufactory of pictures for 

 the Greek chmx-hes throughout the 

 world; and M. Didron found the 

 artists producing, with the servility 



