Guide to Tanjore Painting: An Ancient Paint of India
India has a rich history of art and paintings which date back to several centuries. From the ancient time the paintings of India divided in two categories that are wall paintings and miniature paintings. Some of the most popular paintings of India are Mughal paintings, Rajasthani paintings, Madhubani paintings, Tribal and folk art, Lepakshi paintings, Batik paintings, Modern paintings and Tanjore paintings also fall in these two categories.
The medieval history of India told the glorious period of importance of arts and cultural expressions given by the rules across the India at that time. At that time different types of arts and crafts evolved in almost all the regions of India and one passionate painting that evolves during that time was Tanjore painting.
In the history the first Tanjore painting is mention is approximately 40,000 year old. It was made in Thanjavur which is a city in Tamil Nadu, India and to design the painting, the artisan used original precious stones and gold foils. They also used oil paints to give bright colour and long life to these paintings. This is also one of the main reason why compared to other paintings, Tanjore paintings remain more ageless.
Among the various designs Chettinad and Mysore designs are the most popular design used in Tanjore paintings. Chettinad Tanjore paintings: These types of Tanjore paintings are originated in Thanjavur, city in Tamil Nadu and speak the life around 1600 A.D. These paintings have thick lines, bold colours, appropriate shapes designed that drown by the artisan with keeping every line in a balance. The use of appropriate colour and without any out of shape concern gives these Tanjore paintings a special vibe.
Mysore Tanjore paintings: Mysore Tanjore paintings were originated in Mysore, a city in Karnataka. The specialties of these kinds of Tanjore painting are delicate lines, intricate brush strokes, graceful delineation of figures and the use of bright vegetable colour and lustrous gold leaf. These painting were designed to inspire the feeling of devotion and they speak the life of 2nd century B.C. to 7th century A.D in India.
Tanjore paintings said to bring positive energy to home and they are very unique and authentic in style. To design these Tanjore paintings artisans used various precious and semi-precious gems and pure gold foils as ornaments and clothing of the graceful figures which are mostly Hindu mythological gods and goddesses like Shiva, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Sarastwati, Parvathi, Krishna Tanjore painting, Radha, Ganesha , Nataraja and many more. Even though Tanjore paintings are now facing trouble but with the help of some dedicated artisan Tanjore painting able to reach the modern time.