ABSTRACT
From the Renaissance onward, Spain, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands and France affected the natural luxuriance of the New World – they were transfixed by the abundance of luxurious substances, such as gold, silver and even tortoiseshell. For the Europeans, part of the attraction of the New World was a fantasy of unsurpassed luxury – either as a place of El Dorado or as a paradise. Four centuries later the continent became the platform upon which large functional structures encrusted with neoEuropean and indigenous materials or motifs would be created for the public.
