South Indian Paintings ─ A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection

Containing descriptions of over one thousand paintings, this colorful volume documents the British Museum collection of South Indian art. This official catalog is divided into four sections thematically, covering Hindu mythology, castes, trades and occupations, natural history and painted narratives. A fifth section details an eighteenth century processional chariot. Each section includes an introductory essay describing the following works and their historical and cultural context. The volume contains 250 color plates, maps and an appendix discussing technical analysis of Indian art. Also included are several indexes useful for searching the text by geographic location, names, festivals, and other criteria. Dallapiccola (Art History, U. of Edinburgh) is an expert on Indian art and has authored several books on the subject. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Anna L. Dallapiccola studied at the University of Heidelberg. In 1981, she was appointed Professor of Indian Art History at the South Asia Institute of that University. Since1993 she has been Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh. Her other books include: Die 'Paithan' Malerei, The Sastric Traditions in Indian Arts (editor), Sculpture at Vijayanagara (co-authored with Anila Verghese), Hindu Myths, Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend, and King, Capital and Court (co-authored with CTM Kotraiah).