History and Significance of Tanjore Painting
Tanjore arts or the Tanjore paintings are the passionate art of India in the ancient times. These painting are very significance and said to contain bring home positive energy. But now only a handful of people know about these painting and as a result it is becoming extinct like our lions and tigers.
It is said that the oldest and first know Tanjore painting is about 40,000 years old and it is made in the Thanjavur, a city of Tamil Nadu, India. The painting in that times were design with original gold foils and precious stones and to make them more brighter the artisans use oil paints and as a result the painting gain more long life. This is the reason we find the Tanjore painting the same as before.
There are two types of design mainly used in Tanjore painting and they are Chettinad and Mysore designs.
1. Chettinad Tanjore painting: As the first and oldest painting this type of painting also originated in the city of Tamil Nadu, Thanjavur. The speciality of this type of painting are thick lines, bold colours, appropriate shapes designed balancing in the every line of the painting.
There is no out of shape in this painting and has a use of appropriate colour. The life of these Chettinad Tanjore paintings is found around 1600 A.D.
2. Mysore Tanjore painting: These types of Tanjore painting describe the life and history of the time around 2nd century B.C. to 7th century A.D. This type of painting is originated in a city of Karnataka named Mysore which is especially design to inspire the feeling of devotion among the people.
The delicate lines, intricate brush strokes, use of bright vegetable colors, graceful delineation of figures which are mainly Hindu mythological Gods and Goddesses are the especially of these kind of paintings.
There is a very clear difference between a normal painting and a Tanjore painting. These Tanjore paintings are more unique and authentic then the any other painting and said to bring a special kind of energy to home. The artisans use various precious and semi precious stones and gems to fill the ornaments and clothing of the grace full figurines that are mostly Shiva, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Sarastwati, Parvathi, Krishna, Radha, Ganesha and Balaji Tanjore painting.
Modern times affected the Tanjore paintings like every other old things. In order to survive in the modern time the artisans made few changes in the Tanjore painting. Even though they manage the main part of the Tanjore painting to remain same but the material used in it now a little different.