CHAP. VII.] 



THE FINE ARTS. 



473 



The same observations apply, 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 wiharas, follow, with 

 rigid minuteness, pre-existing illustrations of the sacred 

 narratives. They appear to have been copied, with a 

 devout adherence to colour, costume, and detail, from 

 designs which from time immemorial have represented 

 the same subjects ; and emaciated ascetics, distorted 

 devotees, beatified simpletons, and malefactors in torment 

 are depicted with a painful fidelity, akin to modern 

 pre-Kaphaelitism. 



Owing to this discouragement of invention, 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. 1 



Hence even the most modern embellishments in the 

 temples have an air of remote antiquity. The colours 

 are tempered with gum ; and but for their inferiority 



1 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 

 own genius, or to depart from esta- 

 blished regulations in representing 

 the figures of the gods. In the 

 middle ages, the influence of the 

 churches, both of Rome and Byzan- 

 tium, was productive of a similar 

 result ; and although the Latins 

 early emancipated themselves, the 

 painters of the Greek church, to 

 the present hour, labour under the 

 identical trammels which crippled 

 art at Constantinople a thousand 

 years ago. M. DIDKOK, who visited 

 the churches and monasteries of 

 Greece in 1839, makes the remark 

 that " ni le temps ni le lieu ne font 



rien al'artGrec: auXVIII 6 siecle, le 

 peintre Moreote continue et caique 

 le peintre Ve'ne'tien du X e , le peintre 

 Athouite du V e ou VI". Le costume 

 des personnages est partout et en 

 tout temps le meme, non-seulement 

 pour la forme, mais pour la couleur, 

 mais pour le dessin, mais j usque 

 pour le nombre et I'epaisseur des 

 plis. On ne saurait pousser plus 

 loin 1'exactitude traditionnelle, 1'es- 

 clavage du passe." (Manuel d 1 Icono- 

 yraphie Chretienne Grecque et Latin, 

 p. ix.) The explanation of this fact 

 is striking. Mount Athos is the 

 grand manufactory of pictures for 

 the Greek churches throughout the 

 world; and M. DIDRON found the 

 artists producing, with the servility 

 and almost the rapidity of machi- 

 nery, endless facsimiles of pictures 

 in rigid conformity with a recognised 



