Deborah Howard Bücher

Precious spices and textiles, imported from distant trading posts in the eastern Mediterranean, stocked Venetian markets in the Middle Ages; but Venice's merchants imported more than material goods from the East -- they acquired also a wealth of visual ideas and information from Muslim culture. This lively and richly illustrated book investigates the influence of oriental trade and travel on medieval Venice and its architecture.Architectural historian Deborah Howard examines the experiences of Venetian merchants overseas, focusing on links with Egypt, Syria, and Palestine, as well as with Persia and the Silk Route. She argues that many Venetians gained insight into Islamic culture through personal contacts with their Muslim trading partners. Based on wide-ranging multidisciplinary research, this book examines the mechanisms that governed the exchange of visual culture across ideological boundaries before the age of printing. Howard explores a range of building types that reflect the impact of Islamic imagery, paying special attention to two icon buildings, San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale. She considers the complexities of importing Muslim ideas to an unambiguously Christian city, itself the point of embarkation for pilgrims to the Holy Land.

Situated between Western Europe and the civilizations of Byzantium and the Islamic world, Renaissance Venice was uniquely positioned at the crossroads of East and West. In the beautiful Adriatic city, ideas and aesthetics were exchanged and developed in a remarkable age of cultural fusion. Venice’s distinctive architecture is already well known for integrating divergent cultural influences, but the impact of this synthesis on Venetian painting has not been fully explored. This gorgeous book focuses on the work of the remarkable Bellini family of painters—Jacopo and his  sons Gentile and Giovanni—who transformed Venetian painting in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.The authors examine the influence of Venetian trade with the East on Bellini paintings; the Byzantine influence on Venetian art; the impact of a visit to Mehmed II’s court in 1479 on Gentile Bellini, as well as his effect on Eastern-trained artists there; and much more. The book is abundantly illustrated with the Bellini family’s paintings and examples of the Eastern objects that inspired them.

Jacopo Sansovino was one of the major artists forced to flee the Sack of Rome in 1527. He took refuge in Venice and spent the rest of his life there, working as both a sculptor and an architect. Deborah Howard’s fluent and fascinating book examines the historical background to Sansovino’s remarkably varied range of architectural commissions and offers a more perceptive assessment of his achievement. The author explores the different types of patronage, both secular and religious, and the relationships between the architect and his employers. She looks at the functions of the various buildings and the way in which each project was administered and financed, and suggests how Sansovino derived inspiration from the practical and economic opportunities in each instance.