Question

What was the perception of Europeans about indigenous art of India?​

Answer 1

Answer:

European women residing in India wrote several ‘housewives’ manuals for newcomers. One section specifically focussed on the dos and don’ts with regard to ‘servants’.

DIVYA GAURI29 December, 2019

Joshua Reynolds | George Clive and his Family with an Indian worker | Wikimedia Commons

The attitude European colonisers had towards Indians in the colonial era can be seen clearly from how they thought of and depicted ‘servants’ or household workers in India.

There was a time of admiration and there was a time of absolute mockery. In between the 18th-19th century, the British Raj produced manuals for European women on how to control their workers, paintings that boasted of riches through the number of workers depicted and satires on ‘servants’.