CUET Preparation Today
Which of the following are the main features of Basohli painting style? (A) Use of beetle wings to delineate jewellery Choose the correct answer from the options given below: |
Only (a), (b) and (d) Only (a), (b) and (c) Only (a), (c) and (d) Only (b), (c) and (d) |
Only (a), (c) and (d) |
The correct answer is Option (3) → Only (a), (c) and (d) (A) Use of beetle wings to delineate jewellery The first and most dramatic example of work from the hill states is from Basohli. From 1678 to 1695, Kirpal Pal, an enlightened prince, ruled the state. Under him, Basohli developed a distinctive and magnificent style. It is characterised by a strong use of primary colours and warm yellows — filling the background and horizon, stylised treatment of vegetation and raised white paint for imitating the representation of pearls in ornaments. However, the most significant characteristic of Basohli painting is the use of small, shiny green particles of beetle wings to delineate jewellery and simulate the effect of emeralds. In their vibrant palette and elegance, they share the aesthetics of the Chaurpanchashika group of paintings of Western India. Nainsukh appears to have left his hometown in Guler and moved to Jasrota. He is believed to have initially worked for Mian Zoravar Singh, whose son and successor Balwant Singh of Jasrota was to become his greatest patron. Nainsukh’s celebrated pictures of Balwant Singh are unique in the kind of visual record they offer of the patron’s life. Balwant Singh is portrayed engaged in various activities — performing puja, surveying a building site, sitting in a camp wrapped in a quilt because of the cold weather, and so on. The artist gratified his patron’s obsession by painting him on every possible occasion. Nainsukh’s genius was for individual portraiture that became a salient feature of the later Pahari style. His palette comprised delicate pastel shades with daring expanses of white or grey. |
