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Venice and the Islamic World, 828–1797
March 27, 2007–July 8, 2007
Special Exhibition Galleries, 2nd floor
This exhibition examines the relationship between Venice and the Islamic world over a thousand-year period, focusing on artistic and cultural ideas that originated in the Near East and were channeled, absorbed, and elaborated in Venice, a city that represented a commercial, political, and diplomatic magnet on the shores of the Mediterranean. The underlying theme of the exhibition focuses on the reasons why a large number of Venetian paintings, drawings, printed books, and especially decorative artworks were influenced by and drew inspiration from the Islamic world and from its art. "Orientalism" in Venice was based on direct contact with the Islamic world, which brought about new technological, artistic, and intellectual information. These Venetian objects are studied vis-à-vis works of Islamic art, providing an immediate, comparative visual reference. A continuous thread throughout the exhibition deals with the works of Islamic art that entered Venetian collections in historical times and explores the nature of the artistic relationship between Venice and the Mamluks in Egypt, the Ottomans in Turkey, and the Safavids in Iran.
Accompanied by a catalogue.
The exhibition is made possible by The Hagop Kevorkian Fund.
Additional support is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Oceanic Heritage Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris. It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
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