Vasco da Gama op audiëntie bij koning van Calcutta

What it is

This is an etching made in 1676 by the Dutch printmaker Herman Padtbrugge, published in Amsterdam as an illustration in a book about famous naval heroes. It shows Vasco da Gama and his companions bowing before the ruler of Calicut, seated on a throne under a canopy, with a view of the city in the background.

Why it matters

Made almost two centuries after da Gama's actual voyage, this print is not an eyewitness image but a later European artist's imagined reconstruction of a famous meeting. It shows how Dutch publishers of the 1600s pictured Asian rulers and European explorers, reflecting the tastes and assumptions of their own time rather than firsthand observation.

Look closer

• Since the artist never saw this meeting, where do you think his ideas about the clothing, architecture and poses came from?
• What does the composition suggest about who holds power in the scene?
• Why might a Dutch publisher, decades later, want to include this image in a book of sea heroes?