Book Description:
A previous generationtraced the formation ofa distinct, superior Westerncivilization during theRenaissance. By contrast, today sscholars are tracing theencounters and exchangesthat eroded whatever boundariesseparated East fromWest in the Mediterraneanworld. Indeed, this new bookdemonstrates that the interactionswere gaining instrength and variety even asthe expansion of the OttomanEmpire threatened the powerof Christian Europe.Crossing Boundariespublishes the work of twosymposia one in Boston,the other in London thatwere held in conjunction withthe 2006 exhibition, Belliniand the East, jointly organizedby the Isabella StewartGardner Museum and theNational Gallery, London.Because both symposia featuredan international groupof scholars, it gives readersunequaled access to an areaof study undergoing radicalrevision.This volume s appealcan be grasped through evena partial listing of its topics:the knowledge of Italian architectureevident in MehmedII s building campaign inIstanbul; the role of books incultural transmission betweenVenice and the EasternMediterranean; pictures oftrade and diplomatic missions;narratives of imprisonment;Italian collections ofOttoman artifacts; and, viceversa, Ottoman collections ofItalian artifacts. Fresh materialand insights enrich ourunderstanding of artists likeGentile and Giovanni Bellinias well as of book design,textiles, food, Italian humanism,and the making of politicalidentities.Crossing Boundaries is aguide to the new Renaissanceworld being mapped on bothsides of what was once a wallof difference.Co published withthe Isabella Stewart GardnerMuseum, Boston
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