Maybe. But I also wouldn’t be shocked if some European painters knew black people existed and some didn’t. And the ones that didn’t just painted him looking like everyone else around them.
Black people were afaik more commonly seen in Europe than one might think.
Still, it wouldn’t surprise me if they assumed that other kings must also be white, or that they assumed the racial makeup of this faraway realms was similar to their own.
This is the actual painting of King Mansa Musa of Mali. The source is the Wikipedia article on him. Notice the dark skin.
Either this guy photo edited the thing they posted and are lying, or someone else is and this guy fell for it.
Maybe. But I also wouldn’t be shocked if some European painters knew black people existed and some didn’t. And the ones that didn’t just painted him looking like everyone else around them.
Black people were afaik more commonly seen in Europe than one might think.
Still, it wouldn’t surprise me if they assumed that other kings must also be white, or that they assumed the racial makeup of this faraway realms was similar to their own.