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Review: Venice and the Islamic world 828-1797 Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
by:
Julia Boadle
AT THE OUTSET of the twenty-first century, the pervading view seems to be that Christianity and Islam are at opposite ends of the spectrum. In the current climate, a rapprochement is difficult to envisage. So it was refreshing this year to walk through the exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of ArtVenice and the Islamic World 8281797, to discover that for 1,000 years the pragmatic Venetians valiantly put mind over matter, buried their religious and political differences and embraced eastern culture with open arms.
Venices pragmatism in dealing with the Islamic east was not an entirely philanthropic gesture. If we replace'mind over matter' with 'commercial interests', we are approaching the real reason for the Venetians pragmatism, which is clearly demonstrated by the rich and eclectic display of paintings and luxury objects in this exhibition.
The unique story of the Islamic contribution to the arts of 'La Serenissima' unfolds through a chronological and thematic display of nearly 200 works of art ranging from paintings and drawings, to book bindings, prints, manuscripts, glass, textiles, carpets, ceramics and metalwork.
The east embodied all that was exotic from both a commercial and spiritual perspective: precious commodities and luxury objects, the birthplace of Christ and the perceived location of Paradise. The first half of the ninth century marked the beginning of Venices complex relationship with the Islamic Near East, and pragmatism is the term that probably best characterises this unique relationship. Time and again, the Venetian oligarchy pragmatically 'accepted' the Islamic world, avoiding the religious and ideological disputes that raged in other European cities, focusing instead on the diplomatic, political and practical issues of the day.
The continuous presence of Venetian diplomats and merchants in the main cities of the Islamic Near East and the frequent visits of Mamluk and Ottoman emissaries to the Republic of Venice encouraged a 'special relationship'. This brilliant and complex balance of religious tolerance, subtle diplomacy and commercial necessity enabled the Republic of Venice to enjoy a thriving economy and play an important political role that bridged east and west. Indeed, apart from the areas of Europe (the Iberian Peninsula and southern Italy) which were Islamised towards the end of the first millennium, Venice was the first European city to embrace and more importantly, understand, Islamic philosophy and science.
In the late Middle Ages, Arabic culture was sophisticated and scientifically advanced, in particular in medicine, mathematics, technology and astronomy, all of which were considered worthy of emulation by the Venetians. Several examples in the exhibition illustrate this: one is an interesting fifteenth-century Venetian woodcut illustration entitled Zodiac Man from the Fascicolo de Medicinaa compilation of medical texts on surgery, urology, herbal remedies, obstetrics and gynaecology. In the Zodiac Man, each part of the body is associated with a specific zodiac sign which was used by doctors in conjunction with a calendar to determine the best time to operate on, or let blood from, certain organs. It represents the coming together of the two fields of astronomy and medicine, both lost to the west since the fifth century and transmitted back to Europe through Arabic and Persian manuscripts in the Middle Ages.
Another example of the Venetians' ability to adapt eastern technology to their own requirements is a delicate glass pilgrim flask. By the thirteenth century, Islamic craftsmen were at the forefront of glass technology, and Syrian and Egyptian glass painters had mastered the difficult firing techniques required to decorate objects with gold and coloured enamels. These products made their way into the Venetian market and were analysed and absorbed by Venetian craftsmen. By the end of the thirteenth century, Venetian craftsmen saw the potential of this type of decorated glass, and started a local production based on the same technology and materials that they had become familiar with from their eastern counterpartsa production that was to become a trademark of the Republic for centuries to come.
In contrast with other European powers in the Middle Ages, the Venetian ruling elite did not own great swathes of land. They inhabited a group of marshy islands in a shallow lagoon, with their only natural resources being fish and sea salt. Their livelihood depended on travel and trade, and the Venetian oligarchy became international merchants rather than feudal landowners. From at least as early as the ninth century, Venice's political and economic success depended heavily on her commercial links with the east.
A well-recorded incident in 828 is indicative of how common the sight of Venetian merchants must have been in ports of the eastern Mediterranean by that time. Two Venetian merchants, 'prominent figures engaged in large-scale trade', removed the body of St Mark from Alexandria (the ancient Egyptian entrepot where St Mark was martyred and first buried), with the help of two Greek clergymen. They substituted the body of another saint and concealed St Marks relics in a basket of pork meat aboard their ship in order to deter any suspicious customs officials, enabling them to transport their 'treasure' to Venice.
And treasure it was. An 'A-list' saint was a huge economic boon to a city, attracting, as it would, large numbers of pilgrims. A new shrine was erected to house St Mark's relics'the Doge's Chapel or Basilica San Marcoand the saint's legend served to link east and west, helping boost Venice's image of itself as the new Alexandria. There is no doubt that both these factors helped Venice expand her trade in the eastern and southern Mediterranean, and established the city as an important departure point for pilgrimages to the Holy Land, thus securing her position as the 'link' between the two seemingly antithetical worlds.
Unlike Spain and Sicily, Venice was never ruled by an Islamic caliphate; in fact it was originally an outlying colony of the Byzantine Empire. After the First Crusade of 1099, the Venetians lost no time in establishing trading bases in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which were based on the model of their trading privileges in Constantinople. Venice revelled in its network of trading posts (known as colonies) in the Levant and Central Asia which extended from Acre and Alexandria, to Trebizond, Damascus and Tabriz.
The importance of trade throughout the Mediterranean gave rise to the development of a special kind of mapthe portolan, used to navigate the coastline and find the best routes between ports. Unsurprisingly, Venice emerged as one of the most prolific and important centres of portolan production, reflecting its interest in long-distance commercial trade within the Mediterranean. What is notably different about these maps is the complete lack of borders or names of countries. (Did these change as rapidly then as it sometimes seems nowadays, or was it another example of Venetian diplomacy and pragmatism?). These highly detailed maps, which were used in conjunction with compasses and texts, are extraordinary in their precision and are an indication of just how intimately known and extensively travelled the Mediterranean was at this time.
On a portolan dating from 1421, drawn up by the Venetian Francesco de Cesanis, the principal trading centres are picked out in red lettering, while smaller settlements are noted in black, and a number of red, green, black and brown lines criss-crossing the map indicate the major and minor wind directions. However what is most notable is the colourful array of flags indicating the allegiance of the major ports: the biggest and brightest being that of Venice (bright red with a golden winged lion), while a smaller, similar flag flies over Zara, indicating Venetian rule over this part of the Dalmatian coast. Also evident are the flags of Trebizond in the Black Sea (gold with a red eagle), Alexandria (white with red stripes) and Tripoli (white with a black lion).
The close contact that Venice had with the east over the centuries was highly influential. It seeped into the fabric of the city and as a result Venice acquired a hybrid identity that became infused with eastern characteristics. This was evident in its architecture: an exceptionally rich architectural tradition developed where the affinities between Gothic and Islamic motifs, such as vegetal ornaments, pointed arches, delicate traceries and beautiful low-relief carvings melded effortlessly in iconic buildings such as the Basilica San Marco and the Doge's Palace, as well as in commercial and private dwellings.
On a domestic level, networks of labyrinthine streets, secluded courtyards and rooftop terraces continued the link with the eastern Mediterranean colonies. The eastern influence became very evident in Venetian painting from the late fifteenth century onwards, partly due to Gentile Bellini, who is widely recognised as one of the foremost protagonists of the 'Oriental mode' in Venetian painting. This resulted from his famous sojourn in Istanbul (1479-1481) at the invitation of Sultan Mehmet II (the conqueror of Constantinople), who asked that Venice send a 'good painter to paint his portrait (plate 4). Gentile's detailed and observant drawings of his time in the East were highly influential both within the Bellini family workshop, from where drawings such as Giovanni Bellinis Miracle of St Mark: the Healing of the Cobbler Anianus emerged, as well as among contemporary artists.
Giovanni Mansueti was trained in the Bellini workshop and painted the first of many Venetian painted narratives in the Oriental mode in Santa Maria dei Crocifieri (c. 1495), a church patronised by the small but wealthy guild of silk merchants and weavers, the Arte de Setaiuoli. The number of references to the Islamic world in the narratives is undoubtedly due to the fact that many members of the guild had significant business interests in the eastern Mediterranean. In St Mark Baptizes Anianus (plate 6), Mansueti evokes a scene reminiscent of Renaissance Venice, but it is almost entirely peopled by figures in Mamluk dress. His excellent knowledge of contemporary Syro-Egyptian costume was clearly derived from the Bellini workshop sketchbooks; even the correct form of 'headgear' has been assigned to the different ranking officials.
During the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, it became very fashionable for the Venetian scuole to commission large narrative canvases for their chapels and meeting halls as a way of representing the stories of their pious saints. Since many of these saints had lived in the eastern Mediterranean or North Africa, Islamic architecture and figures became a common feature of these paintings. One example is Vittore Carpaccios The Sermon of St Stephen, painted for the meeting hall of the Scuola de Santo Stefano (plate 5).
Carpaccio, one of the greatest practitioners of the Oriental mode in Venetian Renaissance painting, depicts St Stephen addressing an attentive crowd dressed in a wide variety of costumes: Christian pilgrims from Europe, Byzantine Greeks, men capped with Ottoman and Mamluk turbans, and a seated group of Muslim women, four of whom (unusually) have their veils pulled back. The architectural backdrop evokes the city of Jerusalem, featuring buildings such as the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock and Mamluk minarets and domes, however these are interspersed with a Roman triumphal arch and Renaissance-style arcades, illustrating the typically hybrid nature of Venetian narrative cycles.
By the fifteenth century the Venetians were not only at the forefront of the luxury goods trade for both the European and Middle Eastern markets, but their knowledge and appreciation, and indeed appropriation, of the material objects of Islamic culture was second to none. Exotic and highly prized objects arrived at the docks of Venice: Turkish velvets, Syrian and Iranian brass work, Egyptian glass, Transcaucasian and Anatolian carpets. While much of these goods continued westwards towards the European markets, the Venetians ensured that many of the better pieces remained in Venice itself.
Oriental luxury goods and motifs were so much a part of the fabric of the city by the fifteenth century, with a wide variety of Islamic luxury objects readily visible in the city's households and market places, that Venetian artists began adopting them as part of their artistic language. Carpets were highly desirable luxury objects, not always for use underfootit became very common to see carpets draped or displayed over tables. In the mid-sixteenth century, Lorenzo Lotto became famous for his depiction of oriental carpets, which he included in religious scenes as well as in portraits. The painting of Giovanni della Volta with his Wife and Children (plate 7) shows the table draped with one of the six Oriental carpet designs that appear throughout Lotto's paintingsrugs that are so accurately depicted they are considered documents for the history of carpet weaving. Indeed a particular design that he used frequently in his paintings became known as 'Lotto's pattern'.
Sumptuous eastern fabrics or fabrics sporting eastern motifs became an essential part of well-to-do Venetians' dress code, and while Venice was a major producer of silk luxury textiles, the rarity value of eastern textiles ensured that they were highly desirable. The fifteenth-century Portrait of Doge Francesco Foscari shows the Doge sporting richly decorated robes adorned with eastern motifs (plate 8).
Venice and the Islamic World, 8281797 was the first major exhibition to explore one of the most relevant and unique aspects of Venetian art historythe influence of her Islamic neighbours in the eastern Mediterranean. This fascinating, exotic story was facilitated by the diplomatic, pragmatic and commercial efforts of La Serenissima's oligarchs and merchants and is a welcome example of what dialogue-both diplomatic and commercial-can achieve. Indeed, the overriding impression that one had, as one passed through the treasure-trove of exhibits displayed under the subdued lighting of the Metropolitan Museum, was of having stepped into a very eastern Aladdin's cave. |
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Figure 1
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