LECTURE SERIES: ART CONVERSATIONS XIII

Renaissance Italy engaged extensively with the Islamic world in political, economic, and cultural realms, exchanging ambassadors, trading goods, and participating in a vibrant pan-Mediterranean visual culture. A clear-cut manifestation of the Italians’ fascination with the east can be seen in the extraordinary number of Islamic objects in princely collections and their prominent display in Renaissance paintings by such artists as Duccio, Fra Angelico, Masaccio, Bellini, and Carpaccio. The Italian elite—popes, doges, princes—acquired these objects because of their beauty, luxury, and exoticism, and displayed them in the paintings they commissioned to showcase their cultural sophistication and international connections.