The Taj Mahal -painted by Sita Ram in the 1840’s. The composition, European landscape, angle of the viewer etc all participate in a whole visual discourse of gazing at something exotic (parallel to the discovery of the Inca's), coming upon an ancient ruin and discovering it. The word "discovery" is often used when the West sees something for the first time. Discovery implies that it wasn't there before, wasn't identified, it had no previous meaning. The act of "discovering" something that already existed creates an artifact, something profoundly in the past. It becomes antiquity, and utterly dis-empowered. This is a document of how one nation absorbs another, appropriation in a new way. (Refer to my own work regarding this image).

"Exotic" 19th Century painting - In this painting Indians are shown as erotic and sexual. The place is not specific so the West can associate and embody. The erotic is also associated with textiles and Indian pillows. The design of the textiles and pillows is also an important aspect of how the New World was remade.

1838 Darbar of Sajah 2nd - An image of a domesticated British subject painted for the British Viceroy. In this scene the family is a subject for the new rulers, compared with previous images of the Darbar actively engaging his court. (example: )