Cross Cultural Interaction and Early Modern European Art
Title
Cross Cultural Interaction and Early Modern European Art
Description
This collection examines the advancements in maritime trade and foreign contact and how this impacted art during Early Modern Europe.
Creator
Rylyn Monahan
Date
1500-1800
Collection Items
Mechanical Galleon
This late 16th century German automaton mimics in miniature a masted galleon that would have sailed across the Atlantic to the New World. Designed to carry troops and guns, the actual galleon was specifically manufactured for a European navy with…
The Rhinoceros
In 1515, Albrecht Durer, a notable German painter of the Renaissance, produced a woodcut engraving of a rhinoceros that the Sultan of Gujarat gifted to Europe. It made its way to the King of Portugal and almost to Pope Leo X before a shipwreck caused…
La Dovizia
This tapestry was the first work from Florence of a new tapestry workshop founded by Duke Cosimo de’Medici in the 1540s. Around two meters tall, it was likely used as a door hanger, and a later inventory lists it as a “dovizia with a landscape,”…
Carta Marina, with Detail of Opossum and Cannibals
A variety of flora and fauna existed in the New World that differed from European plants and animals. One notable example is the opossum, which, according to Hugh Honour, revealed the “strangeness” of the Americas “while parrots and toucans…
Helianthus Annuus (Great Sun-Flower)
This collage of colored papers combines to accurately form a sunflower, a flower originally from Mexico that was introduced to Europe in the late 16th century. Botanists and herbalists recorded this flower, and it was grown by John Gerard in 1597 who…
Ouratea Guyannensis (Plate 152) in Histoire des plantes de la Guiane Francoise
The interest in botany and accurate renderings of plant life permeated all of Europe, not just in England. In France, Jean Fusée Aublet boasts a collection of almost 400 copperplate engravings showing the Histoire des Plantes de la Guiane françoise…
Still Life with a Porcelain Jar
Foreign art objects also piqued the interest of European clientele, and this painting depicts a Chinese porcelain vase in addition to other fruits and items acquired through trade. The painting highlights the assortment of items on the table by…
The Chinese Garden (or Vue d'un jardin chinois)
Francois Boucher, a notable rococo painter of the 18th century, developed a keen interest for ‘the Orient,’ and produced a variety of paintings depicting Chinese subject matter, architecture, and themes. Being an armchair traveler, he based his…
Vase and Cover
During the 18th century, another example of the phenomenon of chinoiserie, the European interpretation or imitation of Chinese art or other traditions from East Asia, was this vase. The Yuan dynasty experienced technological developments in the…
A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery
This is a print from the original painting by Joseph Wright depicting a philosopher lecturing on the orrery, or mechanical model of the solar system, and intellectuals used them “as pedagogical devices used exclusively for demonstration” (Barker 31).…