Portuguese India during the 16th century – that is, the colonial enclaves of Goa, Bassein, Cochin and the Pearl Fishery Coast – was blessed with the presence of the Jesuits. They built monumental churches, colleges and residences.
The Portuguese Jesuits lavishly decorated these buildings with paintings, statues and church furnishings, and they commissioned numerous artists, painters, builders and sculptors.
Indeed, the Jesuit Church was designed to represent a particular image of Catholicism in the East: a triumphant Church.
Most of these artists were Hindus. They created ivory and wooden statues and furnishings in a subtle hybrid style, merging the late Renaissance influence of Europe and elements of local Hindu temple art.
While the pictures of Mary, the saints and the angels were derived from Italian and Iberian originals, most of them were usually adapted to Indian sensibilities.
One example of such hybrid art can be found in the courts of the great Moghuls – Akbar, Jehangir and Shah Jehan. They were the result of the early Jesuit missions to the Moghul court in Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra.