Power and devotion in the art of the Catholic missions in Asia during the Early Modern period
During the Early Modern period, European explorers, merchants, and missionaries crossed the oceans across Asia, from the Malabar Coast in India to the Far East. It was a period of unprecedented artistic and cultural transfers between Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas, resulting in a dynamic and...
| Summary: | During the Early Modern period, European explorers, merchants, and missionaries crossed the oceans across Asia, from the Malabar Coast in India to the Far East. It was a period of unprecedented artistic and cultural transfers between Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas, resulting in a dynamic and intense transmission of knowledge, beliefs, and the circulation of material culture. During the age of discoveries, the consciousness of multipolar political powers, and the development of scientific knowledge, art became instrumental to the formation of mutual perceptions and the representation of the ‘other’, both to the East and West. This paper aims to examine the processes of instrumentalization of art and artistic representation in the expression of political and spiritual utopias and the use of art to display the establishment of a new political and religious order and certainly to eloquently convince others to adopt new beliefs, accept new authorities, and conform to new cultural values. It also discusses how art and religious material culture became a mechanism to project political power, the triumph of the Church and personal devotion. |
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| ISSN: | 1475-5629 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Culture and religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/14755610.2024.2354723 |