Himalayan Art Resources

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Tracking an Artist

One of the most exciting things about the study of Himalayan and Tibetan art is the tracking of artists. The excitment really peaks when a composition is suspected of being related to other paintings and then subsequently identified by style, brushstroke, etc., to in fact be related to those other works. The painting of Maitreya and Manjushri is just such a painting.


The image of the Maitreya and Manjushri painting was recently uploaded to the HAR website and was quietly waiting to be catalogued. It was observed that the composition of the Maitreya was similar to other paintings on HAR - specifically a set of Karma Kagyu Lineage paintings.


In comparing the details of the recently uploaded painting and the Karma Kagyu set it was observed that the thrones were a shared single seat for two figures. It was observed that the brushstrokes of the faces and facial features were very similar. After that it became a flood of similarities leading the HAR team to believe that the Maitreya painting and the Karma Kagyu Lineage set were created and painted by the same single (currently unknown) artist. The real Art History detective work begins now.