|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Page 2 of 4 Gian Singh-s fame will rest principally on his fresco-painting on the walls of the Golden Temple. The art of fresco-painting consists in transferring the outline (Khaka) of a design on wet plaster and then filling the outline with appropriate colours before the plaster dries up. The basic colours thus established are worked with requisite details and light and shade achieved with dots and streaks. The colours used are indigenously prepared red ochre from hiramchi yellow ochre from gulzard, emerald green from sang-e-sabz, lamp black from burnt coconut, ultra marine from lajvard and white from burnt marble.
While much of Gian Singh-s work on the outer walls of the domed structure, on the topmost storey, stands partially erased by wind and rain, that on its inner walls yet survives in its original freshness. One dehin executed by him in the sanctum on the first floor, just above Har ki Pauri, bears testimony to his inimitable workmanship. Dehin, the most fascinating item of fresco-painting was Gian Singh-s forte. It is an imaginative ensemble of forms taken by the artist from animal or vegetable life, so curiously intertwined as to present a composite and organized whole Structurally, dehin has three parts- pedestal, a vase poised on the pedestal and a bouquet of flowers or a floral bush called jhar. On the pedestal are depicted birds or animals in various dramatic postures in clasp, in combat or one chasing the other. These figures are often intertwined with creepers.
|
