Stefano Carboni
Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Trinita Kennedy
Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Elizabeth Marwell
Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
March 2007
Founded in the seventh century and built upon more than 100 islets in a lagoon off the northeast coast of the Italian peninsula, Venice grew to be one of the largest cities in Europe and the capital of a great trading empire whose reach extended far into the eastern Mediterranean. Venice initially had strong political ties to Byzantium, and in the tenth and eleventh centuries Venetian merchants obtained the trading privileges from the Byzantine emperors that gave them a distinct advantage over their rivals from other western European cities. The fact that Venetian gold ducat had currency throughout the Near East is an indication of the ubiquity and importance of Venetian merchants there. As Byzantium gradually gave way to Islamic caliphates from the eighth century onward, meeting its ultimate demise in 1453 at the hands of the Ottoman sultan Mehmet II, Venetians increasingly came into contact with Muslims and their ideas, culture, and way of life. As a result, Venice became Christian Europe’s most important interface with the Muslim civilizations of the Near East (The Reception of the Venetian Ambassadors in Damascus, 1511; Musée du Louvre, Paris).
The artistic consequences of the dynamic relationship that Venice forged with its Islamic trading partners, especially the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the Ottomans of Turkey, and the Safavids of Iran, were felt over nearly a thousand-year period. The same merchant galleys that carried spices, soap, cotton, and industrial supplies from the bazaars of the Islamic Near East to the markets of Venice also brought with them luxurious carpets, velvets, silks, glass, porcelain, gilded bookbindings, illustrated manuscripts, and inlaid metalwork (Mahmud al-Kurdi, Salver, late 15th century; Musée du Louvre, Paris). Not surprisingly, these and other portable works of Islamic art, which were often superior in quality to what was available in Europe, made an indelible impression upon artistic taste and production in Venice. From the medieval to the Baroque eras, Venetians acquired Islamic art and adapted and imitated its techniques (Ewer, early 16th century; Musée du Louvre, Paris). In turn, albeit to a lesser extent, the arts of Venice became of interest to the Islamic world.
The chronological framework of these essays is provided by the year 828, when two Venetian merchants stole Saint Mark’s relics from Alexandria (then part of the Muslim world) and brought them to their home city, and the year 1797, when the Venetian Republic fell to the French conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte.
Citation
Carboni, Stefano, Trinita Kennedy, and Elizabeth Marwell. “Venice and the Islamic World, 828–1797.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vnis/hd_vnis.htm (March 2007)
Further Reading
Carboni, Stefano, ed. Venice and the Islamic World, 828–1797. Exhibition catalogue. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
Howard, Deborah. Venice & the East: The Impact of the Islamic World on Venetian Architecture, 1100–1500. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
Additional Essays by Stefano Carboni
- Carboni, Stefano. “Venice and the Islamic World: Commercial Exchange, Diplomacy, and Religious Difference.” (March 2007)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Islamic Art and Culture: The Venetian Perspective.” (March 2007)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Venice’s Principal Muslim Trading Partners: The Mamluks, the Ottomans, and the Safavids.” (March 2007)
- Carboni, Stefano. “A New Visual Language Transmitted Across Asia.” (October 2003)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Courtly Art of the Ilkhanids.” (October 2003)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Folios from the Great Mongol Shahnama (Book of Kings).” (October 2003)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Folios from the Jami‘ al-tavarikh (Compendium of Chronicles).” (October 2003)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Takht-i Sulaiman and Tilework in the Ilkhanid Period.” (October 2003)
- Carboni, Stefano. “The Art of the Book in the Ilkhanid Period.” (October 2003)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Blown Glass from Islamic Lands.” (October 2002)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Cut and Engraved Glass from Islamic Lands.” (October 2002)
- Carboni, Stefano. “The Legacy of Genghis Khan.” (October 2003)
- Carboni, Stefano. “The Mongolian Tent in the Ilkhanid Period.” (October 2003)
- Carboni, Stefano. “The Religious Arts under the Ilkhanids.” (October 2003)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Enameled and Gilded Glass from Islamic Lands.” (October 2002)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Glass from Islamic Lands.” (October 2002)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Glass with Mold-Blown Decoration from Islamic Lands.” (October 2002)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Hot-worked Glass from Islamic Lands.” (October 2002)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Mosaic Glass from Islamic Lands.” (October 2002)
- Carboni, Stefano. “Stained (Luster-Painted) Glass from Islamic Lands.” (October 2002)
Additional Essays by Trinita Kennedy
- Kennedy, Trinita. “Venice and the Islamic World: Commercial Exchange, Diplomacy, and Religious Difference.” (March 2007)
- Kennedy, Trinita. “Islamic Art and Culture: The Venetian Perspective.” (March 2007)
- Kennedy, Trinita. “Venice’s Principal Muslim Trading Partners: The Mamluks, the Ottomans, and the Safavids.” (March 2007)
Additional Essays by Elizabeth Marwell
- Marwell, Elizabeth. “Venice and the Islamic World: Commercial Exchange, Diplomacy, and Religious Difference.” (March 2007)
- Marwell, Elizabeth. “Islamic Art and Culture: The Venetian Perspective.” (March 2007)
- Marwell, Elizabeth. “Venice’s Principal Muslim Trading Partners: The Mamluks, the Ottomans, and the Safavids.” (March 2007)
Related Essays
- Islamic Art and Culture: The Venetian Perspective
- The Later Ottomans and the Impact of Europe
- Venice and the Islamic World: Commercial Exchange, Diplomacy, and Religious Difference
- Venice’s Principal Muslim Trading Partners: The Mamluks, the Ottomans, and the Safavids
- The Art of the Book in the Ilkhanid Period
- The Art of the Mamluk Period (1250–1517)
- The Art of the Ottomans after 1600
- The Art of the Ottomans before 1600
- The Art of the Safavids before 1600
- The Arts of Iran, 1600–1800
- Byzantium (ca. 330–1453)
- Carpets from the Islamic World, 1600–1800
- The Damascus Room
- Empire Style, 1800–1815
- Europe and the Islamic World, 1600–1800
- Glass from Islamic Lands
- The Greater Ottoman Empire, 1600–1800
- The Nature of Islamic Art
- Orientalism in Nineteenth-Century Art
- Paolo Veronese (1528–1588)
- Relics and Reliquaries in Medieval Christianity
- Silks from Ottoman Turkey
List of Rulers
Chronology
- Anatolia and the Caucasus, 1000–1400 A.D.
- Anatolia and the Caucasus, 1400–1600 A.D.
- Anatolia and the Caucasus, 1600–1800 A.D.
- Arabian Peninsula, 1000–1400 A.D.
- Arabian Peninsula, 1400–1600 A.D.
- The Eastern Mediterranean, 1000–1400 A.D.
- The Eastern Mediterranean, 1400–1600 A.D.
- The Eastern Mediterranean, 1600–1800 A.D.
- Egypt, 1000–1400 A.D.
- Egypt, 1400–1600 A.D.
- Egypt, 1600–1800 A.D.
- Iran, 1400–1600 A.D.
- Iran, 1600–1800 A.D.
- Iraq, 1000–1400 A.D.
- Iraq, 1400–1600 A.D.
- Iraq, 1600–1800 A.D.
- Italian Peninsula, 1000–1400 A.D.
- Italian Peninsula, 500–1000 A.D.
- Venice and Northern Italy, 1400–1600 A.D.
- Venice and Northern Italy, 1600–1800 A.D.
Keywords
- 10th Century A.D.
- 11th Century A.D.
- 12th Century A.D.
- 13th Century A.D.
- 14th Century A.D.
- 15th Century A.D.
- 16th Century A.D.
- 17th Century A.D.
- 18th Century A.D.
- 9th Century A.D.
- Africa
- Anatolia and the Caucasus
- Astrolabe
- Brass
- Bronze
- Byzantium
- Carpet
- Eastern Mediterranean
- Egypt
- Empire Style
- Engraving
- Europe
- Glass
- Iran
- Iraq
- Islam
- Islamic Art
- Islamic Art in the Early Period
- Islamic Art in the Later Period
- Islamic Art in the Medieval Period
- Italy
- Mamluk Art
- Medallion
- Medieval Art
- Northern Italy
- Ottoman Art
- Portrait
- Relic / Reliquary
- Ruler
- Safavid Art
- Silk
- Textile
- Trade
- Turkey
- Venetian School
- Venice
- Vessel
- West Asia
- Wool