Abstract
This article investigates the manifestation of Venetian visual culture
of the Renaissance in the island of Cyprus, which, between 1474/89 and
1570/1, stood as one of Venice’s Mediterranean colonies. To date,
scholarship on panel and wall painting production of Venetian Cyprus has
devoted careful attention to the infiltration of Italian details and
styles in the broader sense—mainly drawn from the Italian Middle
Ages—thus failing to notice any correlations between Cypriot visual arts
and contemporary Venetian. In this study, I aim to provide an
overarching perspective that will illuminate the presence and
assimilation of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Venetian visual
vocabulary in Cypriot artistic capital. With an emphasis on devotional
painting, I will examine iconographic schemes, such as the Man of
Sorrows and the Holy Conversation, and facets of stylistic and
iconographic correspondences between the two territories. I will also
probe the architectural function, purpose, and tenor of lunette-shaped
panels in Cyprus and collate them with their Venetian equivalents. Put
simply, I hope to flesh out the artistic contact Cypriot artists and
their sponsors maintained with Venice rather than with Italy as a whole.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | 186 |
Number of pages | 52 |
Journal | Arts |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 31 Aug 2023 |
Keywords
- Renaissance Venice
- Venetian Cyprus
- Man of Sorrows
- Sacra Conversazione
- Lunette-shaped panels
- Artistic contacts
- Icon and wall painting