The Renaissance and the Ottoman World - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1472409914 ISBN 13: 9781472409911

Publisher: Routledge, 2013

Synopsis

This volume brings together some of the latest research on the cultural, intellectual, and commercial interactions during the Renaissance between Western Europe and the Middle East, with particular reference to the Ottoman Empire. Recent scholarship has brought to the fore the economic, political, cultural, and personal interactions between Western European Christian states and the Eastern Mediterranean Islamic states, and has therefore highlighted the incongruity of conceiving of an iron curtain bisecting the mentalities of the various socio-political and religious communities located in the same Euro-Mediterranean space. Instead, the emphasis here is on interpreting the Mediterranean as a world traversed by trade routes and associated cultural and intellectual networks through which ideas, people and goods regularly travelled. The fourteen articles in this volume contribute to an exciting cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary scholarly dialogue that explores elements of continuity and exchange between the two areas and positions the Ottoman Empire as an integral element of the geo-political and cultural continuum within which the Renaissance evolved. The aim of this volume is to refine current understandings of the diverse artistic, intellectual and political interactions in the early modern Mediterranean world and, in doing so, to contribute further to the discussion of the scope and nature of the Renaissance. The articles, from major scholars of the field, include discussions of commercial contacts; the exchange of technological, cartographical, philosophical, and scientific knowledge; the role of Venice in transmitting the culture of the Islamic East Mediterranean to Western Europe; the use of Middle Eastern objects in the Western European Renaissance; shared sources of inspiration in Italian and Ottoman architecture; musical exchanges; and the use of East Mediterranean sources in Western scholarship and European sources in Ottoman scholarship.

About this title

About the Author:

Anna Contadini is Professor of the History of Islamic Art, Department of the History of Art and Archaeology, SOAS, University of London, UK. Claire Norton is Senior Lecturer in Islamic History at St Mary's University College, Twickenham, UK.

Review:

'The Renaissance and the Ottoman World is a first-class collection of essays.' Sixteenth Century Journal Volume '... written by scholars for the equally scholarly... To general knowledge, these essays on ideas, books, maps, music and events add patches of great depth and insight.' Brian Sewell's essential art books of 2013, London Evening Standard 'This book of essays is a blast of fresh air blowing through hermetically sealed rooms as it aims to portray the Ottomans not merely as hovering on the fringes of Europe, but as integral to Mediterranean culture, even becoming elements in the European Renaissance. Thirteen contributions highlight unusual areas, including technology, cartography, architectural inspiration and music.' Art Newspaper '... visually stunning as well as refreshing in its diverse views.' Renaissance Quarterly 'The range of the book is impressive, covering material culture, music, intellectual exchanges, art, cartography, historiography, textiles, and other issues ...a thought-provoking, wide-ranging book that convincingly argues that the Ottoman Empire participated as an accepted player in European affairs during the early modern period. Future studies will no doubt continue to add to many of the authors' observations.' European History Quarterly

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1472409914
• ISBN 13: 9781472409911
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352
• Editor: Contadini Anna