Europe and the Globe, 1350–1700

Artistic exchanges across geographical and cultural distances have registered in the arts from time immemorial, but the current focus on contemporary globalization has stimulated vigorous scholarly attention to processes of interculturation. Established art historical categories, typically defined by regional or national boundaries, are ill-suited to apprehending questions of intercultural exchange; art historians are interrogating patterns of disciplinary practice, challenging Eurocentric assumptions, and seeking better strategies for analyzing these dynamic interactions. This article targets works that specifically address aspects of artistic exchange between Europe and other parts of the world between 1350 and 1700, along with artistic legacies of that early interaction. By definition, all entries address multiple cultures—hence, the challenge of structuring such a bibliography—but they are organized insofar as possible by area of geographic emphasis. An especially promising direction of scholarship in this subject decenters Europe, despite following European networks or documentation, like Um 2017 (cited under Asia) and Park 2020 (cited under Spain). And given the rapidly burgeoning scholarship in this area, this offering is a point of departure for a marvelous and ongoing voyage of discovery. So, to begin: during the late Middle Ages some Europeans followed the Silk Road overland across Eurasia, but the Ottoman blockade of these land routes in 1453 spurred the European search for a sea route to the Indies, launching a European “age of exploration” that lasted from the late 15th through the 17th centuries. The Portuguese worked their way down the African coast and eventually established coastal trading posts from East Africa to Japan. The Spanish sailed west to the New World, joining with Portugal after 1580 to create an Iberian force that dominated early global exploration. The revolt of the Netherlands against Spanish rule prompted the Dutch to find their own way to the Spice Islands, resulting in their rise to global primacy in the 17th century. France and the German lands were less keenly focused overseas, but the English competed worldwide until winning global preeminence in the 18th century. Throughout all these cultural interactions, art objects and materials were among the cargo transported between Europe and the far corners of the world. Travelers, some professional artists among them, recorded their impressions; printmaking and publishing facilitated broad circulation of ideas and imagery. Architecture left enduring evidence of exchange in far-flung places. Ceramics and textiles were sought-after commodities along with the coveted spices, and curiosity collections disseminated cultural artifacts among Europe’s royalty and intelligentsia as well as in sophisticated courts in Persia (Iran), India, China, and Japan. Cross-fertilization in the arts took many forms, and the literature that treats it is voluminous and steadily expanding.

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