Preface
This study is an outcome of a research programme and documentation of Christian mural paintings of Kerala, undertaken by this centre by engaging its post graduate diploma students in Archaeology in 2004. The authors, Dr. Jenee Peter and Mr. P.K. Gopi later brought out this into a pioneering study of the mural paintings of churches in Kerala. Even the church historians of Kerala had not attempted such a course of academic activity in their pursuit.
In fact, Kerala has a rich tradition of mural paintings from 16th to 19th century in temples and palaces. This mainstream of our heritage had been enriched by the church paintings. The church paintings have always been intended for instructive and educative purposes and lacked a ritualistic value, as they were not based on specific rules of iconography or painting followed in the temple mural paintings. The themes were selected from the old and new testaments. They differed in styles and techniques from place to place but adopted similarities with Christian paintings in Europe as prevailed in the post-renaissance period.
This publication has also incorporated a list of churches in Kerala with mural paintings. It deals with the advent of Christianity and the emergence and growth of church architecture. The indigenous style of these structures gradually evolved into a more elaborate foreign influence in all aspects of design and execution. Most of such grand structures remain as good example of Indo-Europe shared cultural heritage. Some of these developments are traced in this monograph with objectivity and brevity.
In brief, they deserve more in-depth analysis in the context of features and stylistic transformation of later Gothic practices in an alien land. Mural paintings, a continuing tradition of Kerala temples as objects of cult and aesthetic symbols were adopted in the churches also. The authors have treated some of these elements of a living culture which had gone into a process of Indianisation also.
As part of heritage studies from this centre, it is our earnest desire that this monograph will create academic interest in an area of historical archaeology and development of culture.
Introduction
Kerala's rich mural art tradition stretching from first millennium AD to the present forms an integral part of the cultural heritage of the state. It is a tradition preserved and maintained over generations. Today, Kerala stands second only to Rajastan in terms of both number and historic value since the Ajantha mural art tradition. Mural paintings adorn many temples and palaces in Kerala. This art spans over a thousand years from about 8th to 18th centuries AD and is divided into three phases (Sashibhooshan: 1988) - the earliest specimens can be still seen at Travancore and Kanyakumari. The second phase is immortalized by a series of paintings at Mattanchery palace dated to the Portuguese period while the third phase belongs to the Dutch period.
First Phase: The 'Travancore' murals represent the earliest extant murals in Kanyakumari district and have a prominent Nayak influence. Second Phase (c. 16°C). In this phase paintings are profuse with two distinct styles emerging at Travancore and Cochin, While being baroque and highly decorative, the paintings of this period are filled with minute details.
Third Phase (c, mid seventeenth to mid eighteenth century):
During this period mural art witnessed a gradual return to simplicity.
Techniques of Mural Painting
Mural art involves a collection of materials and techniques,
various media, the pigments and binder, and diluting agents. The difference in the selection of media by the artist leads to fresco, watercolor, oil, distemper, gouache, tempera, and encaustic (Chitra and Srinivasan 1940). Hence, each mural painting is unique. The simple and most common practice is to apply fresh lime plaster on the walls. But in Kerala, unlike the frescoes at Ajantha, the surface is left to dry before painting. Colours are prepared from natural materials like vegetables, minerals and soot.
The usual colours used in murals in Kerala are white, different shades of yellow, red and ochre, different shades of green, blue in different tones, brown and black. White is extracted from lime, black from lamp soot, red from hematite, yellow from turmeric, and blue is obtained from the local nil amari plant or lapis lazuli imported from Afghanistan (Shashibhooshan 1988). Nowadays these natural eco friendly materials have been replaced by synthetic paints and distemper but there is a revival of traditional methods as laid down in the Sanskrit and vernacular texts
The technique of painting also varies from artist to artist. Kerala's mural art ichuvarchithramezhuthu) is found mainly in temples and palaces, Palaces at Mattanchery, Krishnapuram and Padmanabhapuram and temples at Ettumanur, Vaikkom, Pundarikapuram, Trichakrapuram, Trissur, Kottakkal, Thodeekulam and Pandavam are richly endowed with mural paintings. Mural painting tradition has been revived through the efforts of the few mural painting and conservation institutes at Ettumanur, the Vasthu Vidya Gurukulam at Aranmula, Intach's Mural Art Research, Conservation and Training Centre at Tripunithura and Mammiyur.
Fresco ('fresh': Italian) is the art of painting upon damp, fresh, lime plaster while murals are executed upon dry plaster. In true fresco, the lime in the plaster provides the binder. On drying, this forms Calcium carbonate. A large fresco usually consists of many small sections, each painted in a day but the joints are inconspicuous. Since colours are not lime-proof, fresco does not permit as large a palette or as delicate a manipulation of transitional tones as oil medium. The great masters of the Italian Renaissance brought fresco painting to perfection. As only dry climates are hospitable to the medium, fresco technique was rarely used in Kerala.
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