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Landscape & Background

18
The landscapes that appeared to belong to the darker-skinned individuals in paintings were very often depicted as barren, dead, and basically worthless. All kinds of flora and fauna were decrepit, if not already totally eradicated. Most examples were in fact fairly reminiscent of most visual interpretations of hell, and deeming the owners of these pieces of land, ordinarily Islamic people, to not possess anything of great value to Christian colonizers. 
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Additionally, backgrounds on display behind non-white figures were very plain, with little to no details or attractive colors. When compared to English royalty, for instance, who always posed in front of elegant decorations and vibrant hues, portraits of Islamic people only included backgrounds in shades of gray or black for the most part. By decontextualizing Islamic culture in European art, any history was erased, and instead replaced with a lack of distinction as to the significance of the person in the painting, or when they might have existed. They were rendered as nothing special.

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