Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c21.3.2

c21.3.2

But in the relations that took place in the Middle Ages between the two continents there appears to have been little interchange of art, neither Europe nor India having yet arrived at that stage when the decorative designs of the one appear to have had any appreciable effect on those of the other. When, however, the Portuguese during the sixteenth century opened up communication by establishing factories at Calicut, Cochin, and Goa, the ‘Europeanization’ of the country began, and it was not long before this revealed itself in Indian art. The first Indian potentate to display an interest in the handiwork of the European craftsman was the Mughal emperor Akbar. Comparatively early in his reign, in 1572, he had spent a year in the conquest of Gujarāt, in close proximity to some of the Western seaports, where he made the acquaintance of the Portuguese merchants and learned something about them and their affairs. The Mughal ruler appears to have been impressed by their knowledge, for in 1577 he is reported to have retained a Portuguese officer in his service. Europeans were not, however, unknown in the cities of the Mughals, for there was a fair sprinkling of wandering Poles and ‘ Muscovites ’, Greeks and Levantines, in the bazaars of Agra and Delhi even at this time. In the south of India, but outside the sphere of Mughal influence, many more were beginning to arrive, as not only trade but the Christian religion brought by the Jesuit priests was making steady progress.