2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A Field Survey and Research on the Mural Paintings of the Brihadisvara Temple at Thaniavur in India
| Project/Area Number |
17520085
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Aesthetics/Art history
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| Research Institution | Kyoto City University of Arts |
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Principal Investigator |
SADAKANE Keiji Kyoto City University of Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Professor (40135497)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2005 – 2007
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| Keywords | Art History / Oriental History / India / Hinduism / Mural Painting / Temple Architecture |
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| Research Abstract |
In ancient India, the secular art made progress mainly in the form of mural painting. Indian mural paintings, however, built up the intimate relationship with religions through the mediaeval period. Especially in the south India, mediaeval Hindu temples were generally adorned with mural paintings. Indian mediaeval art reached the stylistic zenith in every part of India toward the early eleventh century. The Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, built at the beginning of the eleventh century, is representative of the mediaeval Hindu temple art. The mural paintings in the passageway surrounding the sanctuary of the temple show distinctly what the mediaeval south Indian paining accomplished. They possess two significant stylistic features. One is that they preserve various elements of the ancient mural paintings in respect of depictions of human figures as well as animal ones. For example, human and animal figures are represented in various stances and painted using the technique of shading. The other is that spacious surfaces of the walls are not dealt with in the unified and organic composition like that of the ancient times, but they are completely divided into a lot of strata or compartments. The latter is the most typical characteristic of the mediaeval mural painting in India. It may be safely said that it set the direction of development of the mediaeval south Indian mural painting after that time.
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