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Venice and Islam in the Middle Ages: Some observations on the question of architectural influence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

Deborah Howard
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Extract

Once described by the great Venetian art historian Giuseppe Fiocco as a colossal suq, the city of Venice has always conveyed a distinctly oriental atmosphere to the western european visitor. Mystified by its labyrinth of dark, narrow, often dead-end streets, twisting at right-angles through densely built-up, separately demarcated parishes, glimpsing fragrant gardens hidden behind high, crenellated walls, sniffing the pungent odours of exotic oriental spices in the bustling, crowded markets, the traveller might well have imagined himself transported, as if on a magic carpet, to one of the great mercantile centres of the Middle East — to Baghdad, Cairo or Damascus — to the world of Marco Polo’s travels or the Arabian Nights.

Type
Research Article
Information
Architectural History , Volume 34 , 1991 , pp. 59 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1991

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References

Notes

1 Fiocco, G., ‘L’arte a Torcello e a Venezia’, in Venezia nel Mille (Florence, 1965), p. 218 Google Scholar.

2 See, for example, Lapidus, Ira Marvin, Muslim Cities in the Later Middle Ages (Cambridge, Mass., 1967)Google Scholar; Hourani, A. and Stern, S. M. (eds), The Islamic City: a Colloquium (Oxford, 1970)Google Scholar; Burckhardt, Titus, Art of Islam: Language and Meaning (London, 1976), esp. pp. 181 ff.Google Scholar; and Searjeant, R. B. (ed.), The Islamic City (UNESCO, Paris, 1980)Google Scholar.

3 See Lewis, Archibald R., Naval Power and Trade in the Mediterranean (Princeton, 1951)Google Scholar; Cessi, Roberto, ‘Venice to the eve of the Fourth Crusade’, in The Cambridge Medieval History, IV: The Byzantine Empire, I (Cambridge, 1966), pp. 250-74Google Scholar.

4 On attitudes to Islam in the medieval west, see Daniel, Norman, Islam and the West: The Making of an Image (Edinburgh, 1960)Google Scholar; Watt, W. Montgomery, The Influence of Islam on Medieval Europe (Edinburgh, 1972)Google Scholar; and Southern, R. W., Western Views of Islam in the Middle Ages (Cambridge, Mass., 1982)Google Scholar.

5 See Gabrieli, Francesco and Scerrato, Umberto, Gli Arabi in Italia (Milan, 1979)Google Scholar; and Crespi, G. R., The Arabs in Europe (New York, 1979)Google Scholar.

6 Although there is an enormous literature on cultural contacts between Islam and the West, there are few studies of the Islamic influence on Venetian architecture. These are Grube, Ernst J., ‘Elementi islamici nell’architettura veneziana del medioevo’, Bollettino del Centro di Studi di Architettura ‘Andrea Palladio’, VIII (II) (1966), pp. 231-56Google Scholar; Muraro, Michelangelo, ‘Questioni islamiche nell’arte veneziana’, Actas del XXIII Congreso Internacional de Historia del Arte (Granada, 1977), pp. 156–67 Google Scholar; and Lorenzoni, Giovanni, ‘Sui problemici rapporti tra l’architettura veneziana e quella islamica’, in Grube, Ernst J. (ed.), Venezia e l’Oriente Vicino: Atti del primo simposio intemazionale sull’arte veneziana e l’arte islamica (Venice, 1989), p. 101-10Google Scholar.

7 See the discussion of these issues by Grabar, Oleg in ‘Islamic Architecture and the West: Influences and Parallels’, in Ferber, S. (ed.), Islam and the Medieval West (Binghamton, NY, 1975), pp. 60–66 Google Scholar; idem, ‘Trade with the east and the influence of Islamic art on the “luxury arts” in the west’, in Il Medio Oriente e l’occidente nell’arte del XIII secolo, 24th International Congress of the History of Art (Bologna, 1982), pp. 27-34.

8 Ruskin, J., The Stones of Venice, 3 vols (London, 1851-53), vol. 1, pp. 13, 78 and 79Google Scholar.

9 The most important of these, Jones’, Owen The Grammar of Ornament (London, 1856)Google Scholar, post-dates Ruskin’s The Stones of Venice, but his researches were presumably already well-known through his involvement in the decoration of the’Crystal Palace. Ruskin himself refers to Jones’ work on the Alhambra (Stones of Venice, vol. 1, P-430).

10 Ibid., vol. 1, p. 21.

11 Ibid., vol.11, p. 148.

12 On Venice’s oriental trade, see Heyd, W., Histoire du Commerce du Levant au Moyen Age, 2 vols (Leipzig, 1885-86)Google Scholar; Rocca, R. Morozzo della and Lombardo, A., Documenti del commercio veneziano nei secoli XI–XIII, 2 vols (Turin, 1940)Google Scholar; Lewis, Naval Power and Trade . . .; Lopez, Roberto S. and Raymond, Irving W. (trans, and ed.), Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World: Illustrative Documents (New York, 1955)Google Scholar; Lopez, Roberto S., ‘Venezia e le grandi linee dell’espansione’commerciale nel secolo XIII’, in La civiltà di Marco Polo (Florence, 1955), pp. 39–82 Google Scholar; Nallino, Maria, ‘Il mono arabo e Venezia fino alle crociate’, in Calasso, Francesco (ed.), Venezia del Mille (Florence, 1965), pp. 161-81Google Scholar; Lane, Frederick C., Venice: A Maritime Republic (Baltimore and London, 1973), pp. 124-31Google Scholar; Pélékidis, Marie Nystazupoulou, ‘Venise e la Mer Noire du Xle au XVe siècle’, in Pertusi, Agostino (ed.), Venezia e il Levante fino al secolo XV, vol. I pt II (Florence, 1973), pp. 541-82Google Scholar; Liaou, Angeliki E., ‘Venice as a centre of trade and artistic production in the 13th century’, in Belting, Hans (ed.), Il Medioevo e l’occidente nell’arte del XIII secolo: Atti del XXIV Congresso Intemazionale di Storia dell’Arte (1979), Vol. II, pp. 11–26 Google Scholar; Zorzi, Alvise (ed.), Venezia e l’Oriente: Arte, commercio, civiltà al tempo di Marco Polo (Milan, 1988)Google Scholar especially the contributions of Zorzi, Roberto Lopez and Ugo Tucci.

13 Goss, Vladimir P. and Bornstein, Christine Verzar, The Meeting of Two Worlds: Cultural Exchange between East and West during the Period of the Crusades (Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1986)Google Scholar.

14 Runciman, Steven, ‘L’intervento di Venezia dall prima alla terza Crociata’, in Venezia dalla prima Crociata alla conquista di Constantinopoli del 1204 (Florence, 1965), pp. 3–22 Google Scholar. See also Heyd, , Histoire du Commerce . . ., vol. I, pp. 148 ffGoogle Scholar.

15 It has even been suggested that it was the Moslems who persuaded Venice to divert the Fourth Crusade ( Heyd, , Histoire du Commerce . . ., vol. I, pp. 401-04)Google Scholar.

16 A. Zorzi (ed.), Venezia e l’Oriente . . ., ‘Marco Polo e la Venezia del suo tempo’, pp. 13-40 and ibid., Ugo Tucci, ‘Il commercio veneziano e l’oriente al tempo di Marco Polo’, pp. 41 ff.

17 Venice’s artistic links with Mamluk Egypt have been perceptively investigated by Sylvia Auld, and were the subject of her lecture on ‘Venice and the Mamluks’ given at Edinburgh University’s symposium on Medieval Venice in May 1990.

18 Pegolotti, Francesco Balducci, ‘Notices of the Land Route to Cathay and of Arab Trade’, in Col. SirYule, Henry and Cordier, Henri (eds), Cathay and the Way thither, vol. III (London, 1914), p. 152 Google Scholar.

19 Yule and Cordier, vols II-III.

20 S.J., Francis A. Rouleau, ‘The Yangchow Latin Tombstone as a Landmark of Medieval Christianity in China’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, XVII (1954), pp. 346–65 Google Scholar. Although Rouleau believes the name Vilioni to be of Genoese origin, it seems not unlikely that Caterina came from the same Venetian family as Pietro Vilion who made his will in Tabriz in 1265 (contents of will published in Laiou, ‘Venice as a centre of trade . . .’, p. 19).

21 Heyd, , Histoire du Commerce . . ., vol. II, pp. 41–57 Google Scholar.

22 Demus, Otto, The Church of San Marco in Venice: History, Architecture and Sculpture (Washington, 1960), pp. 104 ffGoogle Scholar.

23 Ibid., pp. 111, 195.

24 Ibid., p. 104. Such windows are also found in Umayyad desert palaces such as Qasr-al Hayr al-Garbi.

25 I am indebted for this observation to a seminar given by Barry Flood, research student in the Department of Fine Arts, Edinburgh University.

26 Demus, The Church of San Marco . . ., pp. 147-48.

27 For the most up-to-date published bibliography of sources on early Islamic architecture see Ettinghausen, Richard and Grabar, Oleg, The Art and Architecture of Islam 630-1250, Pelican History of Art (Harmondsworth, 1987)Google Scholar.

28 Lane-Poole, Stanley, The Art of the Saracens in Egypt (London, 1886)Google Scholar.

29 For pertinent observations on the transference of artistic ideas from one context to another see Allen, T., Five Essays on Islamic Art, (California, 1988), p. 13 Google Scholar.

30 For recent discussions of the nineteenth-century myth that Islamic metalworkers had workshops in Venice see the contributions of Allan, J. W. and Auld, Sylvia in Grube, Ernst J. (ed.), Venezia e l’Oriente Vicina: Atti del primo simposio internationale sull’arte veneziana e l’arte islamica (Venice, 1989), pp. 167-84 and 185-202Google Scholar.

31 Perocco, G. et al., The Treasury of San Marco, exhibition catalogue, Metropolitan Museum (New York, 1984)Google Scholar.

32 Corner, Flaminio, Notizie storiche delle chiese e monasteri di Venezia e di Torcello (Padua, 1758), p. 572 Google Scholar.

33 See Seherr-Thoss, Sonia P., Design and Colour in Islamic Architecture: Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey (Washington, 1968), pp. 222-25Google Scholar; and Insal, Behçet, Turkish Islamic Architecture in Seljuk ana Ottoman Times (London, 1959), pp. 42–46 Google Scholar.

34 Pensabene, Patrizia, ‘Lastre di chiusura di loculi con naskoi egizi e stele funerarie con ritratto nel Museo di Alessandria’, in Alessandria e il Mondo Ellenistico-Romano: Studi in onore di Achille Adriani (Rome, 1983), Pls X–XI Google Scholar.

35 Boase, T. S. R. in Hazard, Harry W. (ed.), The Art and Architecture of the Crusader States, vol. IV of Setton, K. M., A History of the Crusades, (Wisconsin, 1977), pp. 86–88, 138 and 272-73Google Scholar.

36 See Melville, Marion, La vie des Templiers (Paris, 1951, 2nd edn, 1974)Google Scholar; Dumontier, M. et al., Sur les pas des Templiers en Bretagne, Normandie, Pays de Loire (Paris, 1980)Google Scholar; Demurger, Alain, Vie et mort de l’Ordre du Temple 1118-1314 (Paris, 1985)Google Scholar; and Edbury, P. W., ‘The Templars as Bankers and Monetary Transfers between West and East in the Twelfth Century’, in Edbury, P. W. and Metcalf, D. M. (eds), Coinage in the Latin East: The Fourth Oxford Symposium on Coinage and Monetary History (Oxford, 1980), pp. 1–17 Google Scholar.

37 Caravita, R. Enzo, Rinaldo da Concorrezzo, Arcivescovo di Ravenna (1303-1321) al tempo di Dante (Florence, 1964), p. 163 Google Scholar.

38 See Krautheimer, R., ‘Introduction to an “Iconography of Medieval Architecture’”, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, v (1942), pp. 1–33 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Lambert, Élie, L’Architecture des Templiers (Paris, 1955)Google Scholar.

39 Krinsky, Carole Herselle, ‘Representations of the Temple of Jerusalem before 1500’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, XXXIII (1970), pp. 1–19 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rosenau, Helen, Vision of the Temple: The Image of the Temple of Jerusalem in Judaism and Christianity (London, 1979)Google Scholar.

40 Ruskin, , The Stones of Venice, vol. I, p. 17 Google Scholar.

41 Caraci, Giuseppe, ‘Viaggi fra Venezia ed il Levante fino al XIV secolo e relativa produzione cartografica’, in Pertusi, Agostino (ed.), Venezia e il Levante fino secolo XV, vol. I (Florence, 1973), p. 162, 176Google Scholar; Degenhart, B. and Schmitt, A., ‘Marino Sanudo und Paolino Vento: Zwei literaten des 14. Jahrhunderts in ihrer Wirkung auf Buchillustrierung und Kartographie in Venedig, Avignon und Neapel’, Römisches Jahrbuch fur Kunstgeschichte, XIV (1973), pp. 139–246 Google Scholar; and Sievenich, Gereon and Budde, Heinrik, Europa und der Orient 800-1900 (Berlin, 1989), p. 678 Google Scholar (where the manuscript is dated 1330, although it was presented to the Pope in Avignon in 1321).

42 Boase, in Hazard, The Art and Architecture of the Crusader States . . ., pp. 87-88.

43 See especially Puppi, L., ‘Verso Gerusalemme’, Arte Veneta, XXXII (1978), pp. 73–78 Google Scholar; and Rosand, David, Painting in Cinquecento Venice: Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto (New Haven and London, 1982), p. 127-29Google Scholar.

44 See Creswell, K. A. C., Early Moslem Architecture, 2nd edn, vol. I pt 2 (Oxford, 1969)Google Scholar; and Hillenbrand, Robert, ‘ La Dolce Vita in early Islamic Syria: the evidence of later Umayyad palaces’, Art History, V (1982), pp. 1–35 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

45 For examples see Seherr-Thoss, Design and Colour . . ., pp. 30-39, 92-109, 122-23.

46 See, for example, Honour, Hugh, Chinoiserie: The Vision of Cathay (London, 1961)Google Scholar; and Conner, Patrick, Oriental Architecture in the West (London, 1979)Google Scholar.

47 Ruskin, , The Stones of Venice, vol. I, p. 18 Google Scholar.

48 Lane, Venice: A Maritime Republic, pp. 124-31.

49 Observation of Diehl, G., ‘La peinture orientaliste en Italie au temps de la Renaissance’, La Revue de l’Art ancien et moderne, I (1906), p. 12 Google Scholar.

50 Heyd, , Histoire du Commerce . . ., vol. II, pp. 41–57 Google Scholar.

51 Bettini, Sergio, Venezia: nascita di una città (Milan, 1988 edn), p. 94 Google Scholar.

52 Folena, Gianfranco, ‘Introduzione al veneziano “de là da Mar”’, in Pertusi, Agostino (ed.), Venezia e il Levante fino al secolo XV, vol. I pt I, p. 299 Google Scholar, quoting the Florentine Buoncompagno da Signa.

53 The pioneering study of this subject was Scattolin, Giorgia, La casa-fondaco sul Canal Grande (Venice, 1961)Google Scholar.

54 See Ziadeh, Nicola A., Urban Life in Syria under the Early Mamluks (Beirut, 1953), pp. 88–89 Google Scholar; Wiet, Gaston, Cairo: City of Art and Commerce, trans. Feiler, S. (Oklahoma, 1964), pp. 123–125 Google Scholar; Insal, Turkish Islamic Architecture . . ., pp. 48-62; Erdmann, Kurt, Das Anatolische Caravansaray des 13 Jahrhundets, 3 vols (Berlin, 1961, 1976)Google Scholar; Sims, Eleanor, ‘Markets and Caravanserais’, in Grube, Ernst (ed.), Architecture of the Islamic World: Its History and Social Meaning (New York, 1978), pp. 80–111 Google Scholar; Raymond, A and Wiet, G., Les Marchés de Caire: Traduction annotée du texte de Magrizi (Cairo, 1979), pp. 1–24 Google Scholar; and Parker, R. and Sabin, R., Islamic Monuments of Cairo: a Practical Guide (Cairo, 1985 edn)Google Scholar.

55 Heyd, , Histoire du Commerce . . ., vol. I, p. 531, and vol. II, p. 101Google Scholar.

56 Krautheimer, Richard, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture, Pelican History of Art (Harmondsworth, 1986 edn), pp. 347-52Google Scholar; and Mango, Cyril, Byzantine Architecture (New York, 1976), pp. 146-51, 194Google Scholar.

57 Bettini, Sergio, ‘Elementi favorevoli e contrari all’espansione dell’arte veneziana nel Levante’, in Pertusi, Agostino (ed.), Venezia e il Levante al secolo XV (Florence, 1974), vol. II, pp. 17–39 Google Scholar; and Caruggia, C., ‘La casa e la Città dei primi secoli’, in Maretto, P., La casa veneziana (Venice, 1986), pp. 3–52 Google Scholar, have recently explored the possible evolution of the Venetian palace from the Roman domus, a long, narrow building at the corner of a rectangular plot, later expanded to fill more and more of the plot area. See also Goy, Richard J., Venetian Vernacular Architecture: Traditional housing in the Venetian Lagoon (New York and London, 1989)Google Scholar.

58 See Creswell, K. A. C., Muslim Architecture of Egypt (Oxford, 1952)Google Scholar; and Goitein, S. D., A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, vol. IV (Daily Life, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 1983), pp. 47 ffGoogle Scholar. The most salient difference is the lack of direct access to the interior of the Fatimid palaces, which had tortuous entrances to ensure privacy.

59 Briggs, Martin S., Muhammedan Architecture in Egypt and Palestine (New York, 1924), p. 141 Google Scholar.

60 See Renouard, Yves, ‘Mercati e mercanti veneziani alla fine del Duecento’, in La civiltà di Venezia del secolo di Marco Polo (Venice, 1955), pp. 85–108 Google Scholar; and Tucci, Ugo, ‘Il commercio veneziano e l’oriente al tempo di Marco Polo’, in Zorzi, Alvise (ed.), Venezia e l’Oriente: Arte e commercio al tempo di Marco Polo (Milan, 1988 edn), pp. 41 ffGoogle Scholar.

61 Biblioteca Marciana, Venice, Cod. Marc. Gr. Z. 388 (=333), illustrated in Roccati, A., ‘I viaggiatori veneti’, in Siliotti, A. (ed.), Viaggiatori veneti alla scoperta dell’Egitto (Venice, 1985), pl. 1 Google Scholar.

62 See, for example, Lewis, A. R. (ed.), The Islamic World and the West AD 622-1492 (New York, 1970)Google Scholar.

63 Fiocco, ‘L’arte a Torcello . . .’, p. 220 (my translation).

64 Mollat, Michel, Braunstein, Philippe, Hocquet, Jean-Claude, ‘Réflexions sur l’expansion vénitienne en Méditerranée’, in Pertusi, Agostino (ed.), Venezia e il Levante fino al secolo XV, vol. I pt I (Florence, 1973), p. 519, note 1Google Scholar.