European Images of Europe: Historical Perspectives1

This article asserts that visual images have assisted and sometimes led the construction and dissemination of the idea of Europe. The focus is on the representation of the continent of Europe, in maps, in iconography, and in allegorical works by European artists and designers. The power of these images to mould and manifest power relations is examined; this Foucauldian approach is worked out in discourses of civilization, exoticism, and empire. The timescale is extensive: from the Renaissance discoveries to the heyday of the European empires at the end of the nineteenth century. The object is to review the changing history of the idea of Europe by looking at its self-projection vis-a-vis the rest of the world, and to do so though a sceptical, post-colonial view-finder.