Art, Commerce and Colonialism 1600-1800

Book excerpt: Art, Commerce and Colonialism 1600-1800 examines European art, architecture and design of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the light of the continent's growing engagement with the rest of the world. In a series of case studies spanning the globe from Asia to the Americas, it shows how the expansion of intercontinental trade and the proliferation of colonial ventures gave rise to new and diverse forms of visual and material culture. Among the examples discussed are ornate altarpieces in the cathedrals of colonial Latin America, Dutch still-life paintings of exotic luxury imports, English interior decoration in the Chinoiserie style and the architecture of plantation houses in North America and the Caribbean. Drawing on a wide range of recent scholarship, the book proposes a new history of European art 1600-1800, which should appeal to undergraduate students as well as to a general readership