In 1917 the great French scholar Charles Duroiselle published a description of the Life of the Buddha statues that are found in the Ānanda Temple at Pagan (Bagan) in what was then still called Burma (today Myanmar), along with accompanying photographs.
I have now transcribed that essay and published it with most of the photographs Duroiselle used, and around 20 extra ones which he had left out owing to reasons of space in the original publication.
There is an Introduction to the temple, the sculptures and the techniques, and sufficient description of each of the sculptures in the set, and many discussions which are of interest on related topics.
I think myself that sometimes Duroiselle failed to get inside the culture of the sculptures, and has occasionally made a harsher criticism than necessary, although he also does sometimes rightly point out some true failings.
Still this is a valuable addition I think for the Photo Dharma website, and adds substantially to the work I had done at the Ānanda Temple in 2011, on the Temple itself, and on a section of the same sculptures.
This is now the 3rd book by scholars I have transcribed for the site in the past couple of months, and which provides students with a deeper look at the subject matter under discussion. I do hope that this will help people discover and better appreciate Buddhist art through the ages.
