Images and borderlands: the Mediterranean basin between Christendom and the Ottoman Empire in the Early Modern Age - International conference
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Images and borderlands: the Mediterranean
basin between Christendom and the Ottoman
Empire in the Early Modern Age
International conference
16 – 17 September, 2020
Split (Croatia), Faculty of Humanities and Social
Sciences, Poljička cesta 35Organised by:
• Department of Art History, Faculty of Philosophy and
Social Sciences
• Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism,
University of Macerata
Financed and sponsored by:
• COST / European Cooperation in Science and
Technology /
CA18129/ IS-LE / Islamic Legacy: Narratives East, West,
South, North of the Mediterranean (1350-1750)
Programme chairs:
• Ivana Čapeta Rakić, Ph. D.
• Giuseppe Capriotti, Ph. D.
Organizing committee
• Ivana Čapeta Rakić, Ph. D.
• Giuseppe Capriotti, Ph. D.
• Antonio Urquízar Herrera, Ph. D.
• Elena Paulino Montero, Ph. D.
• Alicia Miguélez, Ph. D.
• Tomislav Bosnić
• Jelena Novak
International conference
Images and borderlands: the Mediterranean basin
between Christendom and the Ottoman Empire in the
Early Modern AgeImages and borderlands: the Mediterranean basin
between Christendom and the Ottoman Empire in
the Early Modern Age
International conference
Programme:
• Wednesday, 16 September 2020. P7
9:40 Institutional Greetings/Opening of the conference
Gloria Vickov, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social
Sciences, University of Split
Antonio Urquízar Herrera (UNED, Madrid) Chair of the COST
Action: Islamic Legacy: Narratives East, West, South, North of the
Mediterranean (1350-1750)
Ivana Čapeta Rakić – Giuseppe Capriotti, Introductory speech
Chair: Ivana Čapeta Rakić (Faculty of Humanities and Social
Sciences, University of Split)
10:00 Peter Burke keynote speaker (Emmanuel College,
Cambridge)
Early Modern Europe, Cultural Hybridity and Islamic Art
10:40 – 10:55 Discussion
10:55 – 11:10 Vasileios Syros (University of Jyväskylä)
The Battle of Lepanto and the Jewish Praise of Venice
11:10 – 11:25 Marios Hatzopoulos (Hellenic Open University)
The shifting politics of prophecy in the Early Modern
Mediterranean
11:25 – 11:40 Discussion
11:40 – 11:55 BreakChair: Borja Franco Llopis (UNED, Madrid) 11:55 – 12:10 Víctor Mínguez (Jaume I University) Juan Chiva (University of Valencia) A visual and literary artifice for the Lepanto victor 12:10 – 12:25 Chiara Giulia Morandi (University of Bologna) Heroic comparisons of the images of Christian princes and military leaders victorious over the Turk: some observation starting from the Battle of Lepanto (1571) 12:25 – 12:40 Discussion 12:40 – 12:45 Break 12:45 – 13:00 Laura Stagno (University of Genoa) Between centres and peripheries. Artistic celebrations of the Battle of Lepanto in the Republic of Genoa and in bordering territories. Case studies. 13:00 – 13:15 Naz Defne Kut (Koç University, Istanbul) Imagining divine intervention: Catholic images of Lepanto 13:15 – 13:30 Discussion 13:30 – 13:45 Break Chair: Antonio Urquízar Herrera (UNED Madrid) 13:45 – 14:00 Borja Franco Llopis (UNED Madrid) Inside and Beyond Borders: (hybrid) images of Muslims in Iberia 14:00 – 14:15 Iván Rega Castro (University of León) Exploring (anti)Islamic imaginary along the coasts: enslaved Muslims and Iberian visual propaganda in the early 18th century 14:15 – 14:30 Ana Echevarria (UNED Madrid) The Image of Elite Corps, from Al-Andalus to Lepanto 14:30 – 14:45 Discussion End of the day 1
• Thursday, 17 September 2020. P8 Chair: Giuseppe Capriotti (University of Macerata) 10:00 – 10:40 Joško Belamarić keynote speaker (Institute of Art History, Split) Borders and bridges, continuity and discontinuity in the hinterland of Dalmatian cities 10:40 – 10:55 Discussion 10:55 – 11:10 Ivan Alduk (Ministry of Culture, Conservation department Imotski) Zadvarje - The fate of a fortress at the border of two worlds 11:10– 11:25 Ferenc Tóth (The Research Center for the Humanities, Budapest) Ottoman capital: the Fortresses of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus seen by French military engineers, diplomats and travelers in the 17th and 18th centuries 11:25 – 11:40 Discussion 11:40 – 11:55 Break 11:55 – 12:10 Angelo Maria Monaco (Academy of Fine Arts, Venice) Otranto 1480. Rewriting History through Iconography 12:10 – 12:25 Evelyn Korsch (University of Erfurt) Crescent and lion. Venice and its multi-layered image construction after the battle of Lepanto 12:25 – 12:40 Discussion 12:40 – 12:45 Break Chair: Elena Paulino Montero (Complutense University of Madrid) 12:45 – 13:00 Maria Luisa Ricci (UNED Madrid) Old and new enemies in ancient and modern battles: anachronisms in three works by Mattia Preti in Malta 13:00 – 13:15 Franceco Sorce (Indipendent scholar) “Macometto in una nugola nera”: the imagined war of Giovanni da San Giovanni (and Ferdinando II de’ Medici) in Palazzo Pitti (Florence). 13:15 – 13:30 Gašper Cerkovnik (University of Ljubljana) Valvasor's The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola (1689) on life on the Habsburg- Ottoman border in the Early Modern Age in text and illustrations 13:30 – 13:45 Discussion 13:45 – 14:00 Closing remarks
EARLY MODERN EUROPE, ISLAMIC ART AND CULTURAL
HYBRIDITY
Peter Burke
upb1000@cam.ac.uk
This talk is divided into five parts.
First, the history of studies of Islamic art in early modern Europe
Second, its conceptualization, in terms such as hybridity
Third, the geography of the phenomenon, the Arab legacy in Spain and
Portugal and the Ottoman legacy in Eastern Europe
Fourth, its context (including other aspects of Euro-Islamic culture)
Fifth, the most difficult question, the question of reception, in other words, how
this Islamic art or hybrid art was viewed in Europe in early modern times.
Peter Burke studied at Oxford, taught at the University of Sussex when it was
still new (1962-79) and then moved to Cambridge, where he was Professor of
Cultural History until his retirement. He remains a Fellow of Emmanuel
College. Among his thirty books are Culture and Society in the Italian
Renaissance (1972), Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe (1978), The
European Renaissance (1998) Eyewitnessing (2001), What is Cultural
History? (2004) Cultural Hybridity (2009) and Hybrid Renaissance (2016).THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO AND THE JEWISH PRAISE OF VENICE
Vasileios Syros
vasileios.syros@jyu.fi
The aim of this paper is to examine a hitherto unexplored aspect of
images associated with encounters between Christian Europe and the
Ottoman World by looking at Jewish perceptions of the Battle of Lepanto.
More specifically, the paper will focus on Jewish praises of the victory of
Lepanto, such as the works of the prominent linguist and physician David
de Pomis (ca. 1525–ca. 1595), as well as the correspondence of
Solomon Ashkenazi (ca. 1520–1602), who served as aide to grand vizier
Mehmed Sokollu and was instrumental in brokering the peace treaty of
1573. I will investigate how Venice’s military achievements stimulated
debates about space, territorial expansion, and diasporic existence in
Jewish political and historiographical discourse. More broadly, I will
identify the symbols and rhetorical motifs utilized in Jewish variants of
the “Myth of Venice” in the aftermath of the Battle of Lepanto; and will
discuss how they can help us reconstruct debates about “otherness” in
relation to the Ottomans, as well as in the context of Venice’s religious
and ethnic minorities.
VASILEIOS SYROS is an Associate Professor in the Department of
Social Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland) and Docent at
the University of Helsinki and at Åbo Akademi. His teaching and research
interests converge at the intersection of Christian/Latin, Jewish, and
Islamic political thought and intellectual history. Syros has published
Marsilius of Padua at the Intersection of Ancient and Medieval Cultures
and Traditions of Learning (University of Toronto Press, 2012); Die
Rezeption der aristotelischen politischen Philosophie bei Marsilius von
Padua (Brill, 2007); and Well Begun is Only Half Done: Tracing Aristotle’s
Political Ideas in Medieval Arabic, Syriac, Byzantine, and Jewish
Sources (ACMRS, 2011). His work has appeared in a number of
international peer-reviewed journals, including Viator, Journal of Early
Modern History, Medieval Encounters, Journal of World History,
Philosophy East & West, History of Political Thought, and Revuedes
Études Juives. Syros is the Principal Investigator for the research project
“Political Power in the European and Islamic Worlds” (2014–18). He has
taught previously at Stanford University, McGill University, The University
of Chicago, and the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris). Syros
has received fellowships from Harvard University, the University of
Michigan, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton
University, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.THE SHIFTING POLITICS OF PROPHECY IN THE EARLY MODERN
MEDITERRANEAN
Marios Hatzopoulos
mhatzopoulos@gmail.com
The paper will focus on a specific literature of Byzantine prophecy - the
so-called “oracular literature” which, since the middle and late Byzantine
centuries, aimed to provide hope to the community of eastern Christians
during critical times of threat, anxiety and change. In general, oracular
prophecy was used to reinforce communal bonds in grim circumstances.
Should the latter devolve into defeat and devastation, this literature was
used to offer “divine” affirmations that the state of affairs which humbled
the faithful would not last. Its message was that tribulations would cease
and glory would be restored at a more or less foreseeable, and often
calculable, point of time. After the fall of Constantinople and the ensuing
Ottoman conquests (15th -17th centuries), oracular prophecy preached
the advent of a worldly king-deliverer who would topple the rule of
Muslims and restore imperial sovereignty and sacred space to Christian
hands.
At the same time, Christians of the eastern Mediterranean and the
Balkans did treat the Ottoman conquests in terms of divine retribution for
human sin. Historians nowadays are inclined to underline this line of
reasoning, tending to overlook the prophetic and apocalyptic beliefs of
the ruled - and those of the rulers in the Ottoman empire. In doing so,
historians dismiss the capacity of prophecy to cement bonds within
different faith communities and mobilize them for common political
goals. Muslims across the Mediterranean drew from an equally rich
repertoire of apocalyptic and prophetic beliefs. In the east end of the
Mediterranean basin, Ottoman apocalypticism saw, in the conquest of
Constantinople, a portent of the Endtimes heralding an era of world
domination. In the west end of the basin, in the Iberian Peninsula,
Morisco propheticism entertained a myth of restoration of bygone glories
whose content and scope were similar to the expectations of eastern
Christians. Could a comparative study on the prophecy of Christians and
Muslims across the early modern Mediterranean be feasible?MARIOS HATZOPOULOS read Philosophy at the University of Crete and obtained a Master’s degree in Political Science at the University of Athens. As scholarship recipient from Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, he pursued doctoral studies in Nationalism Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science where he received his PhD (2005) under the supervision of Anthony D. Smith. Currently, Marios teaches at the Hellenic Open University; he is also a research fellow at the Research Centre for Modern History (K.E.N.I.) of the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Athens) and a management committee member representing Greece in the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action CA16213 “New Exploratory Phase in Research on East European Cultures of Dissent”. Marios is interested in prophecy and political radicalism in early modern Europe, Ottoman history, Modern Greek history, nationalism and popular mobilization, empire and nation-state formation in SE Europe, religious nationalism, conspiracy theories. He also entertains a keen interest in digital humanities. His most recent publication is the chapter ““Eighteenth-century Greek Prophetic Literature”, in David Thomas & John Chesworth (eds), Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History, Volume 14. Central and Eastern Europe (1700-1800), Leiden: Brill 2020, 382-402.
A VISUAL AND LITERARY ARTIFICE FOR THE LEPANTO VICTOR J.
SAMBUCUS, ARCVS ALIQVOT TRIVMPHAL, ANTWERP, 1572
Víctor Mínguez - Juan Chiva
minguez@his.uji.es chivaj@his.uji.es
After the victory of the Holy League in the battle of Lepanto, Johannes
Sambucus (or János Zsámboky), a Hungarian humanist, doctor and
emblemist working at the service of the Habsburgs, published a literary
and propaganda artefact entitled Arcvs aliqvot trivmphal et monimenta
victor. Classicae, in honor. Invictissimi ac Illustrib. Iani Avstriae, victoris
non qvietvri (Antwerp, 1572). The volume is an apology of John of
Austria, admiral of the Christian fleet, with sixteen triumphant images -
accompanied by Latin texts - showing frontispieces, triumphal arches,
cenotaphs, columns and other monuments in which we can contemplate
captive Turks, mythological gods, trophies, galleys and nautical and
allegorical representations. It is a book that we can link to the voluminous
commemorative literature that generated the victory of Lepanto and also
to the festive literature created for the celebrations of the naval triumph in
Rome, Venice, Seville and many other cities in Europe. But, above all, it
is a symbolic invention that connects with the tradition created for
Maximilian I of Habsburg at the beginning of the century, crystallized in
apologetic architectural and visual fantasies such as the enormous
woodcut prints of the Triunfal Procession (1507-1508) and the Triumphal
Arch (after 1519).
VÍCTOR MÍNGUEZ. Professor of Art History at Universitat Jaume I
(Castellón). Director of the Department of History, Geography and Art.
Specialist in the analysis of images of power. His most recent works
include: The invention of Carlos II: symbolic apotheosis of the House of
Austria (2013) and Hell and glory at sea: the Habsburgs and the artistic
imaginary of Lepanto (2017) In collaboration with Inmaculada Rodriguez,
he has also authored The Seven Ancient Wonders in the early Modern
World (2017), The portrait of power (2019) and The time of the
Habsburgs: the artistic construction of an imperial lineage in the
Renaissance (2020). His current research is primarily dedicated to the
process of visual fabrication of the battles of Lepanto (1571) and Vienna
(1683) as cultural artefacts. He is the main researcher of the R&D project
“Art and war on the Danube: the visual fabrication of the victory of the
Holy League over the Ottomans (1683-1718)” Code: UJI-B2019-07.JUAN CHIVA. Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History at the University of Valencia and PhD in Art History at the Jaume I University (2009). His main research topics focus on the cultural study of the image, highlighting the festivals and ephemeral art in Europe and America, and the arts and politics of the image on the borders of the Hispanic Empire, from the Danube to New Spain The results of their research, with time spent at the UNAM (Mexico City), The Getty (Los Angeles) and the Warburg Institute in London, include Chiva's monograph The triumph of the viceroy: origin, apogee and decay of the viceregal entries (2012) and, in co-authorship, six volumes of the La Fiesta Barroca project, directed by Víctor Mínguez. Chiva is currently the main researcher of the R&D project “The ancestors of Charles V and the rise of the modern festival (1384 - 1559)” (code: HAR2017-84375-P).
HEROIC COMPARISONS IN THE IMAGES OF CHRISTIAN PRINCES
AND MILITARY LEADERS VICTORIOUS OVER THE TURKS: SOME
OBSERVATIONS STARTING FROM THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO (1571)
Chiara Giulia Morandi
chiaragiulia.morand2@unibo.it
The impact that encounters and collisions between Christendom and the
Ottoman Empire in the Early Modern Age had on artistic production have
often been studied in relation to the representation of Otherness. One of
the main outcomes of art historical research in this area of European art
is the identification of the a process of comparatio temporum, which
refers to the attribution of Turkish features to characters – mostly
enemies – in painted or sculpted stories apparently unrelated to anti-
Ottoman conflicts. This mechanism, outlined in a crucial essay by
Augusto Gentili (1996), came from the idea of history as magistra vitae
(Sorce 2018), that is, as a catalogue of model situations repeatable in
the present. This paper will assume a complementary position in regard
to this these researches, showing how the same concept of history
determined the image of Christian princes and military leaders. This
process, revealing the bearing of one culture on the other even when the
border between the European and Ottoman worlds fractured, has rarely
been taken into consideration by historiography. The paper will then
focus on the climate succeeding the Battle of Lepanto (1571), in which
euphoria over the victory determined could determine the artistic and
literary production of allegorical portraits images of Christian wartime
protagonists - portraits that invoked antecedent positive exempla
considered to be ideal figures that were now matched or even
surpassed. The paper will identify the chosen heroic models and put
them in dialogue with their previous occurrences in the history of
Christian-Muslim confrontations, with the aim of pointing out a repertory
of significantly recurring exempla – like that of Constantine, evoked in
allegorical portraits of Alvise Mocenigo (in Cesare Vecellio’s engraving of
1571-1572, in Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam) and Giovanni Andrea
Doria (in the disguised portrait of Constantine’s Hall in Palazzo del
Principe, Genoa, probably realized by Lazzaro Calvi in the 1590s). At the
same time, through the given examples, a series of different ways of
expressing a heroic comparison in visual arts will be identified.Instances of this type of expression These include, for example, the conferment of the exemplum iconographic scheme to the prince portrait, such as that in images of Holy League protagonists and images of John of Austria, based on the iconographies of preaching Moses and David with the head of Goliath in two images - one of the three main protagonists of the Holy League and the other of John of Austria, based on the iconographies of preaching Moses and David with the head of Goliath - that adorned two banners made for the Sevillan celebrations of 1571 (Pedro de Oviedo, Relación de las sumptuosas y ricas fiestas, Sevilla 1572, pp. 44v, 46r). Other ways of expressing a heroic comparison in the visual arts, on which attention will be focused, are the addition of inscriptions to the portrait of the prince and the adoption of the genre of the disguised portrait: they characterize the mentioned Constantine examples. The addition of inscriptions to the portrait of the prince and the adoption of the genre of the disguised portrait, as mentioned in the Constantine examples, can be considered as additional proof of this phenomenon. This last represents the most complete expression of the heroization mechanism: One conclusive aim of the paper is to show the fitting nature of the genre of identification portraiture for the purpose of glorifying anti-Turkish princes, through a brief look at later contexts of conflict between Ottomans and Christians, at the acme of the 17th century. CHIARA GIULIA MORANDI. For the past two years Chiara Giulia Morandi has been involved in didactic tutoring for the course of “Iconografia e Iconologia” held by Sonia Cavicchioli at the University of Bologna. She completed her PhD in Art History at the same University in October 2020 with a dissertation on the heroic image of Christian princes in the context of European-Ottoman conflicts between the 15th and 16th centuries. In 2017 she spent three months at the Warburg Institute (London), performing research activity on the same topic under the supervision of Joanne Anderson and Rembrandt Duits. Her interest in the iconographic repercussions of encounter dynamics between Europe and the Ottoman Empire also found expression in her research activity on a dismembered series of drawings by Iacopo Ligozzi (ante 1588) representing Turkish figures with animals: on this topic she co-authored a paper with Lucia Corrain for the conference Il mito del nemico (Bologna 2017), and published an article in the periodical Intrecci d’arte (2018).
BETWEEN CENTRES AND PERIPHERIES. ARTISTIC
CELEBRATIONS OF THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO IN THE REPUBLIC
OF GENOA AND IN BORDERING TERRITORIES. CASE STUDIES.
Laura Stagno
laura.stagno1@gmail.com
The Battle of Lepanto was depicted in Genoa in a variety of media -
tapestries, oil paintings, frescoes – destined both to aristocratic palaces
and to churches, in the latter case usually in connection with the
Madonna del Rosario’s iconography. The commissions reflected the
engagement of the Genoese in the event and in its celebration. But the
subject was also represented in peripheral areas of the Republic’s
territory, often in small churches and sanctuaries, as well as in the
bordering areas of Southern Piedmont, part of the Duchy of Savoy, and
the South-Western region of the Spanish State of Milan, close to the
Genoese dominion, where a fertile exchange of influences took place.
The paper aims to present some aspects of the celebration of Lepanto in
these interconnected territories.
LAURA STAGNO’S main fields of research are Iconography and
Genoese Artistic Patronage in the Early Modern period (both of which
she teaches at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level at the
University of Genoa, where she is Associate Professor). Her activities
include the participation in a number of Italian and international research
projects (including the COST Action Islamic Legacy: Narratives East,
West, South, North of the Mediterranean (1350-1750)). She has
published extensively on the Doria family’s vast patronage, including
monographs (Palazzo del Principe, 2005, and Giovanni Andrea Doria
(1540-1606). Immagini, committenze, rapporti politici e culturali tra
Genova e la Spagna, 2018), many book chapters, papers in international
conference proceedings and articles in academic journals. On
iconographic themes, she published two monographs (Sant’Anna Mater
Deiparae, 2004, and Vanitas, 2012), as well as a high number of papers.
Her research lines merge in the study of images of the Ottoman “other”
in Genoese art, to which she has recently devoted papers presented at
conferences (in Chicago, Madrid and Bologna, 2017), articles
(Triumphing over the Enemy. References to the Turks as part of Andrea,
Giannettino and Giovanni Andrea Doria’s artistic patronage and public
image, in Changing the Enemy, visualizing the Other: contacts between
Muslims and Christians in the Early Modern Mediterranean Art,
monographic issue of “Il Capitale Culturale”, 2018), and a conference,
co- organized with B. Franco Llopis and G. Capriotti (Figure dell’alterità
religiosa. Immagini dell’Islam. Incontri e scontri (da Lepanto a Matapán,)
Genoa, 13-14 June 2018).IMAGINING DIVINE INTERVENTION: CATHOLIC IMAGES OF
LEPANTO
Naz Defne Kut
nkut14@ku.edu.tr
This paper examines the symbolic significance of the Battle of Lepanto
for the Catholic world and how it was perceived and narrated through
religious imagery during and after the Counter-Reformation period in
Europe. While conducting iconographic analyses of numerous artistic
depictions of Lepanto in religious contexts, this study aims to
demonstrate the extent of Christian symbolism attributed to the battle
and how it was used as a means to propagate the image of “Catholic
invincibility” through a “victory” narrative.
Although the Battle of Lepanto itself was a brief encounter in a
series of battles during the Fourth Ottoman-Venetian War (1570-1573),
which eventually resulted in the favour of the Ottomans, the symbolism
attributed to the Holy League’s victory at Lepanto exceeded its objective
military significance and extended well beyond the time and place it
occurred. It was, and still is seen as the “triumph of Catholicism” over
the “infidels”. In an overwhelming number of paintings produced to
celebrate the battle, this claim is symbolized through the images of
miraculous presences and saintly figures that assisted the fleet of the
Holy League, reflecting a common characteristic of divine intervention,
which ultimately led to a Christian victory. Starting with Counter-
Reformation art in the Italian peninsula, this imagery, in various forms,
becomes standard in depicting Lepanto in different artistic waves
throughout the ages, setting the environment for a particular artistic
tradition.
The overall analysis of this artistic tradition suggests that thanks
to the victory of the Holy League at the Battle of Lepanto, the Catholic
Church was able to regain its political and religious authority, at the time
challenged simultaneously by the Ottomans and the Reformation,
through the visual and symbolic works of art, which were commissioned
both by the Church and other allied leaders who had strong religious
beliefs. As global contemporary symbolism suggests, the significance of
Lepanto for the Catholic world far exceeded the scope of 16th-century
Italy and became a symbol of religious claim to power and glory that
would be used in centuries to come for reflecting the image of the
victory of “true faith” through the memory of the Battle of Lepanto.NAZ DEFNE KUT completed her B.A. at Boğaziçi University's Department of History in 2014 with a graduation paper entitled “Presents for Presence: Ottoman Imperial Depictions as a Symbol of Power: The Case of Mechitarist Monastery in Venice”. In 2018, she obtained her M.A. degree from Koç University's History of Art Program with her M.A. thesis entitled: “Iconography of a Catholic Victory: The Battle of Lepanto in Italian Painting”. During her studies abroad, at the University of Ca’ Foscari in Venice and the University of La Sapienza in Rome, she worked in Italian archives, libraries and museums, extending her research on iconography and symbolism in artistic interactions between Italian cities and the Ottoman Empire. In February 2020, she began her Ph.D. studies at Koç University in the History of Art Program. Her main area of interest relates to Early Modern artistic interactions between the Ottoman Empire and Italian maritime republics, Venice and Genoa in particular.
INSIDE AND BEYOND BORDERS: (HYBRID) IMAGES OF MUSLIMS IN
IBERIA
Borja Franco Llopis
bfranco@geo.uned.es
In Late Medieval and Early Modern Iberia, the figure of the “Muslim
other” can only be described as convoluted. Its study is dependent on
internal and external political problems. First of all, we find the
“vanquished moor” after the conquest of Granada (1492), who is
represented as a “historical other”, defeated thanks to the power of the
Catholic Kings. Secondly, there is the “internal (converted) moor”, the
Morisco, who despite being a new Christian is perceived at the end of
the 16th century as a Turkish ally. Thirdly, there is the “Ottoman moor”,
the external threat that produced countless battles across the
Mediterranean, such as Lepanto. Lastly, there is the “moor beyond the
European borders”, the “Asian moor” that was conquered and converted
in the first Portuguese expansionist wars in the Orient.
These characters were sometimes conflated in the ephemeral
decorations used in public celebrations that took place in Iberia from the
15th to the 17th centuries. Battle paintings, allegories, and theatrical
pieces, among others, showed the victory of Christianity over Islam, but
the understanding of these different alterities by the ideologues of the
events produced curious representations, sometimes hybridizing reality
and invention. For instance, in the Royal Entry of Philip II in Lisbon
(1581), the Moors from India were represented dressed “a la morisca,”
but wearing Turkish weapons and depicted with dark faces to distinguish
them from other kind of “moors” that also appeared in other triumphal
arches in this celebration.
The aim of this paper is to analyse the particularities of this kind
of representation, showing the variety of options available to artists in the
representation of the “Muslim other”. The choices depended on the
perception of Islam and the enemy that were developed inside and
outside of European Christian borders. My contribution will demonstrate
that these images were not stable but highly mutable. Indeed, they
shifted through the decades, depending on Christian propaganda, the
perception and knowledge of the local authorities of the “other”
represented, as well as the necessity to justify the international policy of
the Spanish kingdoms.BORJA FRANCO LLOPIS (Valencia, 1982) is an expert on the complexities of alterity and of Spanish identities. He graduated with a BA in Art History at the University of Valencia and won the First National End Studies Award, and finished a PhD in the same year at the University of Barcelona, where he won the 2010 Best Humanities Dissertation Award. He has been a visiting scholar in several prestigious institutions such as the School of History and Archaeology in Rome, the Instituto Storico per el Medievo (Rome), the Warburg Institute (London), Johns Hopkins University, University of California at Berkeley, Harvard University, Columbia University and NYU. He is a Ramón y Cajal Fellow at the UNED and the PI of the research group “Before Orientalism: Images of the Muslim Other in Iberia (15-17th Centuries) and their Mediterranean Connections”. He has co-edited several books and has published a number of journal articles and book chapters on a variety of topics, such as: the relations of the Inquisition with the visual arts, the Moriscos in Spanish society and culture, Muslim and Christian identities in Spain, etc., focusing primarily on the analysis of the visual arts in general, and painting in particular. He has recently finished a monograph titled: Pintando al converso: la imagen del moriscoen la peninsula ibérica (1492-1614) (Madrid, Cátedra 2019), and he has coedited the book: Another image: Muslim and Jews made Visible in Christian Iberia and beyond (14-18th centuries) (Brill, 2019)
EXPLORING (ANTI)ISLAMIC IMAGINARY ALONG THE
COASTS: ENSLAVED MUSLIMS AND IBERIAN VISUAL
PROPAGANDA IN THE EARLY 18TH CENTURY
Iván Rega Castro
iregc@unileon.es
The aim of this essay is to inquire into the issue of Iberian propaganda
in the making of (visual) otherness, and the continuity of (anti)Islamic
sentiment during the 18th century. This aim will be examined within the
general context of Christian-Ottoman conflicts on the Mediterranean,
and maintenance of the Spanish ‘presidios’ of North Africa. But this
paper is about offering an alternative view through unpublished
documentation, not in strictly military terms but in cultural or
propagandistic terms of two different conflicts between the Iberian
Crowns and the Ottoman Empire in the early 18th century.
The essay deals with the artistic propaganda made to
celebrate the conquest of Oran in 1732 by the Spanish Army, ordered
by Philip V, and the end of the Thirty-year Siege of Ceuta (1727). These
commemorative works of art were not only a way to celebrate the
glories of the Spanish Monarchy, with a particular reference to the North
African military campaigns, but they were also, above all, meant to
publicize a new image of the Bourbon King as someone who is capable
of “expelling Moors from Spain”. In this sense, I will focus on the
process of the creation of the Fountain of fame in the San Ildefonso
Royal Palace Gardens, an integral part of new royal propaganda, that
also included commemorative tapestries and paintings by the Italian
artist Andrea Procaccini.
The paper will also focus on artistic production in relation to
the battle of Cape Matapan (June 1717), and the persistence of its
memory, which was directly related to the official royal propaganda
deployed by the Bragança dynasty. This is particularly the case for a
sketch or ink drawing for a portrait of the young king John V de Portugal,
by the Italian painter Domenico Duprà (Casa de Bragança Fundation),
the portrait of the first Cardinal-Patriarch of Lisbon, Tomás de Almeida,
who Duprà also painted c. 1718, or the portrait of Frei Antonio Manuel
de Vilhena, Grand Master of The Order of Malta, by an unknown Italian
artist.IVÁN REGA CASTRO Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of León (Universidad de León, Spain). He received his PhD in Art History from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain). He went on to pursue postdoctoral research as a member of the research project: Before Orientalism: Images of the Muslim in Iberia (15th-17th centuries) and their Mediterranean Connections (HAR2016-80354-P. IMPI.), led by Professor Borja Franco, UNED (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain). He is currently collaborating on various projects with members of the Institute of Art History at the New University of Lisbon (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal).
THE IMAGE OF ELITE CORPS, FROM AL-ANDALUS TO LEPANTO
Ana Echevarria
aechevarria@geo.uned.es
A significant number of paintings developed after the battle of Lepanto
depicted the Turks as the personification of the centuries-long threat
represented by Islam, and in this respect they drew inspiration from a
number of previous iconographical sources. In this paper, I would like to
stress the role of certain elite corps, namely body-guards who were
converts and so challenged boundaries in the military borderland:
Mamluks, Janissaries, the Moorish body-guard of the Iberian kings, the
Elches of the kings of Granada. All of them created an image of convert
soldiers that permeated literary sources, which bothered the clergy, who
wrote scathing criticism against them. These soldiers appeared as
crossover characters, as minor but nevertheless ever-present figures in
battle scenes. The focus on these specialized troops provides an
interesting point of analysis that contrasts with the prevailing image of
triumphant armies in Early Modern battle paintings.
ANA ECHEVARRÍA is Professor of Medieval History at the Universidad
Nacional de Educación a Distancia in Madrid (Spain). She works on
relations between Muslims and Christians, especially interreligious
polemic, Muslims living under Christian rule, conversion, and crusade.
Among her books, Knights in the Borders. The Moorish Guard of the
Kings of Castile (1410-1467), (Leiden, Brill, 2008), The City of the Three
Mosques: Ávila and its Muslims in the Middle Ages, (Wiesbaden,
Reichert, 2011), Law and Religious Minorities in Medieval Societies:
between theory and praxis, ed. with J. P. Monferrer and J. Tolan
(Turnhout, Brepols, 2016) and Circulaciones mudéjares y moriscas:
redes de contacto y representaciones (Madrid: CSIC, 2018), ed. with
Alice Kadri and Yolanda Moreno. She has been a Visiting Fellow at the
KHK-Dynamics in the History of Religion, Ruhr University, Bochum
(Germany), and the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of
Constance (Germany).BORDERS AND BRIDGES, CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITY IN
THE HINTERLAND OF DALMATIAN CITIES
Joško Belamarić
josipbelam@gmail.com
In the second half of the 15th century three Dalmatias came into being
then: Venetian, Ragusan and Turkish. The split between Christian and
Ottoman Dalmatia was more terrible than the red thread drawn vertically
down the Balkans during the times of Diocletian and Theodosius. But at
the same time, from one side and the other, there was trade in caravans
and the regular marketplaces. Cultural influences were swapped; a
Frenchman called Poullet on the way through Dubrovnik and Bosnia in
1658 noted that all these people called each other brother. As well as the
friendship among the educated we notice many other examples of
exchange of gifts and visits among the agas and beys on the one, and
the serdars, harambashas and Franciscans on the other side, their
correspondence with the tone of the gallantry of the time, as well as in
their disputes. In this space, then, for two and a half centuries the
Christian and Islamic zones were in vigorous contact with each other.
There are many and indisputable forms of inter- and trans-culturalism of
the frequently consciously or unconsciously overlooked embodiment of
the several-millennial cultural history of the space between the rivers
Krka and Neretva, which in the Roman world and the Middle Ages, as
well as during the clashes of Habsburg, Turk and Venetian – even during
the times of the most pitiless warfare – often showed a surprising range
of forms of cultural and interconfessional coexistence
In the second half of the 18th century the hinterland of Dalmatia was
revealed not only as an untapped economic resource but as a kind of
endemic of civilisation in the midst of enlightened Europe. Via Alberto
Fortis, the name of the Morlaks became one of the important pre-
Romantic discoveries of an oasis uncorrupted by the conventions of
civilisation, echoed in Mme de Staël, in Prosper Mérimée, Pushkin and
Mickiewicz... Just as the concept of Illyrian became in popular European
fiction a kind of magical and fairytale land, resort of myth and legend,
space of the unrestrained imagination.
Today this is a somewhat forgotten part of Croatian territory, but is being
transformed in front of our eyes under the dictates of globalisation. Yet,
perhaps, we should not look at this pessimistically, for one of the
essential features of this space is that its history has developed through
discontinuities and ever new beginnings, during which many stubborn
forces have nevertheless survived.JOŠKO BELAMARIĆ Joško Belamarić received his MA and PhD degrees from the University of Zagreb, where he studied Art History and Musicology. In 1979 he began working for the monument protection services in Split, and between 1991 and 2009 he served as the director of the Regional Office for Monument Protection. Since 2010 he has been the head of the newly established Cvito Fisković Center at the Institute of Art History in Split. He has published a number of books and articles about the urban history of Dalmatian cities, as well as medieval and Renaissance art. Recently he was the Guest Scholar at the Getty Research Institute ( 2017/2018), with the project entitled „The metamorphosis of the Diocletian's palace into medieval town“. In the spring semester of 2019, he was a Guest Scholar at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence. He is actually the Project leader of the project: A tale of three cities (Zadar – Split – Dubrovnik). https://www.ipu.hr/article/en/831/a- tale-of-three-cities-zadar-split-dubrovnik
ZADVARJE - THE FATE OF A FORTRESS AT THE BORDER OF TWO
WORLDS
Ivan Alduk
alduk.ivan9@gmail.com
An Italian monk and travel writer, Alberto Fortis, visited Zadvarje in the
1770s. It was a small village at the foot of a fortress in Dalmatia's interior.
He admired its location above the Cetina River Canyon and the huge
eagles that inhabit this canyon. On this occasion, he wrote that it was a
place "..that brings with it the fate of the whole territory .."! Zadvarje and
its surroundings are regions where people and ideas from the Adriatic
coast and its deep hinterland have met for centuries. Even in climatic
terms, it is a place where the warmer Mediterranean climate collides with
the harsher, continental one. All this has left remarkable material traces
throughout the area – the main fortress, isolated towers, churches and
their interiors, villages, roads, etc. Furthermore, this influenced the
development of that intangible part of today's heritage - traditions, beliefs,
the worship of certain cults, and even prejudices and superstitions. This
is especially true of the period from the 15th century, when the Venetians
built a fort on the hill above the village, until the end of the 17th century,
when the same fort was abandoned by the resident Ottoman crew.
Although a territory is usually extremely complex in its emergence, this is
precisely the period when this particular territory took the shape we are
familiar with today. In a few stories from the rich history of Zadvarje, we
will try to describe the process of its formation, created a long time ago at
the border of two worlds.
IVAN ALDUK. Born in 1976 in Split. Graduated in 2002 from the
Department of Archaeology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social
Sciences, University of Zagreb. He started working as a part-time
associate for the Conservation Department in Split in 2000. Conducted
archaeological and conservation research in the area of Solin, Klis, Hvar
and inland Dalmatia (Sinj, Vrlika, Zadvarje, Poljica, Imotski). Currently
employed at the Conservation Department in Imotski. He deals with
topics in medieval archaeology, archaeology and history of the early
modern age, as well as the protection of monuments.THE BASTIONS OF THE OTTOMAN CAPITAL, THE FORTRESSES OF
THE DARDANELLES AND THE BOSPHORUS SEEN BY FRENCH
MILITARY ENGINEERS, DIPLOMATS AND TRAVELERS IN THE 17TH AND
18TH CENTURIES
Ferenc Tóth
Toth.Ferenc@btk.mta.hu
The fortifications of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits were very
important strategic points from the perspective of defending the Ottoman
capital. France had very special relations with the Ottoman Empire in the
Early Modern Era which permitted them to envisage very different military or
diplomatic plans concerning the Ottoman capital. Despite the friendly
relations with the Turks, King Louis XIV was often in military conflict with the
Ottoman forces (1664 Saint-Gotthard and Gigery, the War of Candia). The
Sun King even ordered a secret military mission under the direction of
Gravier d'Ortières in the 1680s to perform military reconnaissance of the
Ottoman capital's defences in order to prepare an occupation plan. The
plans and drawings (of great artistic quality) of this secret mission were
carefully conserved, but they were never used. In the 18th century, several
other French military missions studied and even modernized the
fortifications of the straits in order to make them less vulnerable in the case
of an enemy attack. After the defence of the Dardanelles in 1770 by French
officers (the barons of Tott and Pontécoulent), the Sublime Porte undertook
fortification works under French military direction. Ten years later, a French
military mission, under the direction of Lafitte-Clavé, examined the new
fortifications and drew up new plans, maps and drawings. What were the
differences between the Ottoman and Western conceptions of defence?
What was the image of this maritime military border (for example, the natural
and artificial fortifications around the capital)? What were the obstacles to
modernizing fortresses? How did the new system of maritime military
borders work? What were the main inventions conceived by French officers?
Are there any artistic representations of these fortifications?
FERENC TÓTH, Hungarian historian and romanist. He studied history and
French language and literature in Hungary at the University of Szeged
(1986-1991) and then at the University of Sorbonne in Paris (1992-1995),
where he defended a doctoral thesis on the social integration of Hungarian
immigration into France during the 18th Century. Currently, he works as a
senior research fellow at the Institute of History of the Research Center for
the Humanities (former Hungarian Academy of Sciences) in Budapest. In
2014 he defended a thesis at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, in which
he presented a biography of Baron Tott (1733-1793). He is the author of
several scientific works: Mémoires du baron de Tott sur les Turcs et les
Tartares, Maestricht 1785., (Paris-Genève, Champion-Slatkine 2004), Saint-
Gotthard 1664, Une bataille européenne (Paris, Ed. Lavauzelle, 2007), La
guerre russo-turque (1768-1774) et la défense des Dardanelles (Paris, Ed.
Économica, 2008), La guerre des Russes et des Autrichienscontre l’Empire
ottoman 1736-1739 (Paris, Ed. Économica, 2011), etc.OTRANTO 1480. REWRITING HISTORY THROUGH ICONOGRAPHY.
Angelo Maria Monaco
angelomariamonaco976 @hotmail.com
On August 13, 1480, the Turkish army landed on the Adriatic coast of
Puglia, spreading terror throughout the local community which was
unwilling to fight and mounted a poor defense. In order to defend their
freedom, but waiting for some help which was provided too late, the
citizens of Otranto opposed surrender, to which the Turks responded with
a siege in which Otranto was forced to capitulate. The survivors of the
clash (a mere eight hundred men) were confronted with the decision to
convert to the law of Muhammad or refuse at the cost of their lives. They
preferred death, resulting in a massacre. Since 1481, in Otranto, in order
to support the idea of martyrdom, liturgical practices were put into effect.
The consequences of the massacre of Otranto went well beyond the
immediate territory of Puglia, with consequences both from a political
point of view as well as in the field of iconography. For example, in the
same 1481, Matteo di Giovanni recalls the massacre of 800 citizens in
the scene of the Slaughter of the Innocents on the floor of the Duomo of
Siena. Otranto had lived its apocalypse and its citizens could now aspire
to Celestial Jerusalem. Liturgical structures built to preserve remains that
were considered relics of saints were decorated with a symbolic
apparatus that tells the local history in an eschatological key. This is the
case of the altar of martyrs by Gabriele Riccardi, a famous sculptor in
Salento in the 16th century. Calling back to the iconographic genre of the
grotesque, Riccardi compares the recent event to the salient episodes of
the book of the Apocalypse, legitimizing through iconography the
connotation of victim remains as relics of martyrs. The Apocalypse thus
becomes, even in the 16th century, an instrument of political and religious
propaganda against the Turks.
ANGELO MARIA MONACO, PhD in History of Art, Lecce, Università del
Salento (2007), MA in Cultural and intellectual History 1350-1600 at The
Warburg Institute (2008). Grant by British Academy and Accademia dei
Lincei at the Warburg Institute (2009). He has carried out iconographic
research at the SNS (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa), (2014-2015).
ASN (Abilitazone Scientifica Nazionale) per l’Associatura universitaria
(2017). He is actually professor of History of Art at the Academy of Fine
Arts in Venice and Contract Professor of Art Criticism at the Università del
Molise. Main topics: iconography in the XVI-VII centuries Italy; history in
collecting; artistic literature 15th-17th centuries.CRESCENT AND LION. VENICE AND ITS MULTI-LAYERED IMAGE
CONSTRUCTION AFTER THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO
Evelyn Korsch
evelyn.korsch@uni-erfurt.de
The paper explores the ambiguous situation of the Republic of Venice
after the Battle of Lepanto. The Serenissima and its Stato da mar serve
as a case study to show the potentially multi-layered relations with the
Ottoman Empire. In 1571, two events influenced Venetian policies in
regard to the Sublime Porte: the loss of Cyprus and the victory of
Lepanto. Venice had been an important member of the Holy League and
participated in the Battle of Lepanto. In the lagoon city, the defeat of the
Ottomans had been celebrated in many different ways with the intention
to render this event an eternal part of commemorative culture.
Consequently, the image of Islam as an adversary in general and of the
Ottomans as enemies in particular became an essential element
concerning the construction of the so-called myth of Venice. Officially, the
Serenissima represented itself as defender of Christianity. Its myth was
based on the legend that God had chosen Venice as paradise on earth
and the doge assumed the role of the alter ego of Christ. Although the
population had been provided with images of the ‘cruel Turk’, the
government followed pragmatic considerations. Priority was not given to
religion, but to commerce. The main aim of the republic remained the
same over the centuries, i.e. to achieve maximum profit. In 1573, in order
to ensure Levantine trade, Venice made a separate peace treaty with the
Ottoman Empire. Thereby, in the view of other Christian states, the
Serenissima had become a betrayer. As a result, Venice assumed a
hybrid position which became manifest through the material and mental
image production of Venice both as itself, and as the other. A variety of
visible images could be found in public spaces. One area of Venetian
focus was the new iconographic programme in the Doge’s palace with
paintings of highly appreciated artists such as Veronese, Vicentino,
Tintoretto, etc., that are dedicated to the Battle of Lepanto or to the fight
against Islam in general. Trophies had been exposed in the armouries
which were part of the official visiting programme for state guests.
Memorial plaques and sculptures had been placed in strategically
important locations. Moreover, medallions, maps depicting ship line-ups
during the battle, as well as pamphlets with hydras representing Islam,
were distributed. Performances played an important role in the
construction of mental images.Processions on Saint Mark’s square, followed by Holy Masses,
musical representations and laudations in front of the Signoria were some
of the festivities celebrating the victory. Through festival reports and
illustrations, permanence was given to these performances. Archival
sources, however, give evidence of another image of otherness. Even in
times of conflict or crisis diplomatic meetings with gift exchanges took
place and commercial relations with the Ottoman Empire persisted. Travel
reports and mercantile correspondence also describe friendly encounters
with Muslims in the borderlands of the Mediterranean.
The paper will first show how mental borders between Venetians
and Ottomans were constructed by different typologies of visible and
invisible media, and secondly, by which means these borders had been
evaded in favour of economic interests. Finally, it will discuss to which
extent the Venetian strategies had contributed towards shaping the
Mediterranean into a space of interaction generating a hybridity of
borderlands.
EVELYN KORSCH teaches Early Modern History at the University of
Erfurt. After receiving her PhD in History at the University of Zurich in 2009
(Images of power: Venetian strategies of representation in the context of
the state visit of Henry III (1574), Berlin: Akademie, 2013), she worked in
several research projects on early modern networks, markets and
globalisation trends. Her publications in history and art history integrate
cultural, social and economic aspects. She is currently performing research
regarding Eurasian relations and working on her habilitation project entitled
"Cross-cultural trade in diamonds, precious stones and luxury textiles: the
Armenian diaspora in Venice and its global trading networks (1650-1750)".OLD AND NEW ENEMIES IN ANCIENT AND MODERN BATTLES:
ANACHRONISMS IN THREE WORKS BY MATTIA PRETI IN MALTA
Maria Luisa Ricci
marialuisaricci4@gmail.com
After the victorious outcome of the Siege of Malta (1565), which saw the
defeat of the fleet of Suleiman the Magnificent, the role of the Knights of
St. John as guardians of the border between Christianity and Islam
became increasingly defined.
In March 1566, the knights decided to build a new capital on the
island, called Valletta, whose hinge became the co-cathedral of the
Order dedicated to its patron Saint John the Baptist. It is precisely inside
this church where the riches and works preserved in the eight chapels
dedicated to the eight langues are shown.
The aim of this paper is to examine three works of art by Mattia
Preti, the main 17th-century artist of the Order of the Knights of Malta: St.
George on horseback (1659) in the chapel of Aragon, St. James defeats
the moors at Clavijo (c.1661) in the chapel of Castille, St Paul liberating
Malta (1682-1688) in the St. Paul Cathedral in Mdina. The first two
paintings were commissioned by two of the Grand Masters of the Order,
and the last one by the canon of the Cathedral of Mdina Don Antonio
Testaferrata.
The three works are very similar from an iconographic point of
view: the saint is depicted riding a white horse, armed with a sword or a
spear, while destroying the army of infidels. The battle scenes refer to
the miracles in which the three saints are protagonists in the Spanish
and Maltese tradition: St. George probably refers to the battle of El Puig
(1237), outside Valencia, against a Berber dynasty; St. James is
represented while he is fighting the Moors in Clavijo in 844 AD; St. Paul
is painted while throwing out a North African raid from the gates of the
fortress of Mdina in 1429. Why are all the enemies, i.e. the Arab
dynasties of North Africa, portrayed in these ancient battles as modern
Ottomans?The purpose of this paper MARIA LUISA RICCI is a PhD is to investigate the reasons student at the Universidad behind this significant Nacional de Educación a anachronism in order to Distancia (UNED) of Madrid. She understand if it is due to the deals with images commissioned intention of creating a relation by confraternities and religious with contemporary wars against orders involved in ransoming the Ottoman Empire, in which the slaves in the Mediterranean knights were perpetually during the modern age. During engaged, such as in the War of the elaboration of her Bachelor’s Candia (1645-1669) or in the War thesis she made an of Morea (1684-1699), both iconographical and iconological fought in the period during which study as well as performed the aforementioned works were accurate archival research on the commissioned. The outcomes of painted decorations of a noble these clashes, not always palace in Ancona. These studies positive, and the interest of some led to a volume entitled Peccatrici European states to enter into evangeliche, beati biblici e antichi peace treaties with the Ottomans, dei. Sacro e profano nelle risked marginalizing the knights in decorazioni pittoriche di Palazzo their role as a vanguard against Benincasa ad Ancona (affinità Islam. Due to this complex elettive 2019). In July 2019 she situation, what is the function and took part in the international meaning of these three images? congress Mas alla de la ansiedad Could they represent a renewed y la admiración: el islam en las request to the three warrior Saints culturas mediterraneas de la to intercede for victory? Or edad moderna, at the University perhaps the knights intended to of Alicante, where she presented identify themselves with these an early study on the works of art saints, in order to demonstrate commissioned by the religious that their role as protectors was order of the Mercedarians of still actual, and show how the Rome and by the Neapolitan new enemies of Christianity, the institution “Santa Casa della Turks and the Barbary, are Redenzione dei Cattivi”, focusing nothing but their former foes who, on the use of the subject mater as such, must be defeated misericordiae. through the sacrifice of brave men. These are some of the problems which the present paper intends to provide an answer.
"MACOMETTO IN UNA NUGOLA NERA": WAR AS IMAGINED BY
GIOVANNI DA SAN GIOVANNI (AND FERDINANDO II DE’ MEDICI) IN
PALAZZO PITTI
Francesco Sorce
sorce18@gmail.com
Though geographically distant from the fighting, early-17th century
Medicean Florence offers an interesting case study in the widespread
use of symbols that accompanied the “long war” between the Christian
West and the Turkish world. In particular, the frescoes by Giovanni
Mannozzi (called da San Giovanni) painted in Palazzo Pitti between
1635 and 1636 for the occasion of the wedding between Ferdinando II
de’ Medici and Vittoria della Rovere, feature some original inventions with
regard to the derogatory image of the Other. The work, relatively
neglected in imagological studies so far, visually elaborates on the so
called “Lament for Greece” theme. In two out of three lunettes, Mannozzi
depicts the topos of the illiterate barbarian and the enemy of knowledge,
rooted in the European repertoire of disparagement. At the same time,
the topos is successfully employed to celebrate the Florentine dynasty as
a glorious patron of the arts. As a matter of fact, the Muses, expelled from
the Orient, are welcomed into the Tuscan court, as narrated in the third
lunette of the fresco. The image of Muhammad, which for some scholars
should be interpreted as the portrait of the Sultan who conquered
Byzantium (Mehmed II), is meant to represent the Oriental threat. In
order to clearly portray the opponent as evil, the personification of the
Islamic enemy is accompanied by the monstrous Furies, one of which is
carrying a copy of the Quran. Through the image of an irreconcilable
clash of civilizations, Ferdinando II wanted to offer the noble visitors of
Palazzo Pitti his personal vision of the war against the Turks. Hence,
within the frame of propaganda, the symbolic construction of the dynastic
identity is based on a cultural battle against the stereotypical enemy of
the humanities and the Christian religion. This paper will examine the
inherent functioning of the frescoes by Mannozzi, taking into
consideration both their contextual reasons and the textual and visual
sources. To that end, special attention will be given to the tradition of the
negative image associated with Muhammad, focusing on a number of
representations in which the Prophet – as in Palazzo Pitti – is used as a
synecdoche for the religious and military enemy.You can also read
