Im Schatten des Markuslöwen? West-östliche Verflechtungsprozesse in der sakralen Malerei des Regno di Candia, in: Transkulturelle Verflechtungsprozesse in der Vormoderne, hrgs. v. W. Drews, C. Scholl, Berlin 2016, S. 197-236. (original) (raw)

Abstract

Polemical statements from the period of Venetian rule (1211–1669) emphasize the existence of deep religious and ideological trenches between native ‘Greeks’/‘Romans’ and immigrant ‘Franks’/‘Latins’ on Crete. Generally, the island’s art is assumed to be either part of Western or Byzantine culture and identity and thus taken as proof of a cultural confrontation between conquerors and the conquered population. Examining sacred art on Crete, however, this article suggests that at least from the 14th century onwards it is impossible to presume the existence of factions completely separated along ethnic or religious lines and of behaviour determined by ideology alone. On the contrary, the decoration of a number of churches points to an entanglement of cultures and religions which has not been considered sufficiently until today, especially in the case of mendicant churches. Hybrid compositions in Latin churches on the one hand and the occasional appearance of imported motifs from the West such as St. Francis, the Madonna della Misericordia and the lion of St. Marc in orthodox churches on the other hand show a highly complex reality defying the simplistic view of two hostile camps. Choices regarding style and content as expressed by the wealthy Venetian and Greek upper classes, Latin clerics and members of the mendicant orders were motivated by the desire to signal social status and privilege, to publicize ecclesiastical and monastic institutions and, in some cases, even to propagate the union of the churches and thus shed light on mechanisms of interaction and agents responsible for phenomena of entanglement.

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