Crossing Boundaries

A previous generation traced the formation of a distinct, superior Western civilization during the Renaissance. By contrast, today's scholars are tracing he encounters and exchanges that eroded whatever boundaries separated East from West in the Mediterranean world. Indeed, this new book demonstrates that the interactions were gaining in strength and variety even as the expansion of the Ottoman Empire threatened the power of Christian Europe. Crossing Boundaries publishes the work of...
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A previous generation traced the formation of a distinct, superior Western civilization during the Renaissance. By contrast, today's scholars are tracing he encounters and exchanges that eroded whatever boundaries separated East from West in the Mediterranean world. Indeed, this new book demonstrates that the interactions were gaining in strength and variety even as the expansion of the Ottoman Empire threatened the power of Christian Europe. Crossing Boundaries publishes the work of two symposia one in Boston, the other in London that were held in conjunction with the 2006 exhibition, Bellini and the East, jointly organized by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the National Gallery, London. Because both symposia feature an international group of scholars, it gives readers unequaled access to an area of study undergoing radical revision. This volume's appeal can be grasped through even a partial listing of its topics: the knowledge of Italian architecture evident in Mehmmed II's building campaign in Istanbul; the role of books in cultural transmission between Venice and the Eastern Mediterranean; pictures of trade and diplomatic missions; narratives of imprisonment; Italian collections of Ottoman artifacts; and, vice versa, Ottoman collections of Italian artifacts. Fresh material and insights enrich our understanding of artists like Gentile and Giovanni Bellini as well as of book design, textiles, food, Italian humanism, and the making of political identities. Crossing Boundaries is a guide to the new Renaissance world being mapped on both sides of what was once a wall of differences. Co-published with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. AUTHOR: Claire Norton is Lecturer in History, St. Mary's University College. Anna Contadini is Reader in the Art and Archaeology of Islam, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Alan Chong is Curator of Collections, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. ILLUSTRATIONS 110 illustrations