This book argues that the provenance of early modern and medieval objects from Islamic lands was largely forgotten until the "long" eighteenth century, when the first efforts were made to reconnect them with the historical contexts in which they were produced.
For the first time, these Islamicate objects were read, studied and classified – and given a new place in history. Freed by scientific interest, they were used in new ways and found new homes, including in museums. More generally, the process of "rediscovery" opened up the prehistory of the discipline of Islamic art history and it had a significant impact on conceptions of cultural boundaries, differences and identity.
The book will be of interest to scholars working in the history of art, the art of the Islamic world, early modern history and art historiography.
Author(s): Isabelle Dolezalek, Mattia Guidetti
Series: Studies in Art Historiography
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 208
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Figures
Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Rediscovering Objects From Islamic Lands in Enlightenment Europe
Notes
Bibliography
Part I Changing Perceptions
1 Changing Perceptions of Middle Eastern Objects and Cultures in Eighteenth-Century Europe
Historical Context
Renaissance and Post-Renaissance
The Enlightenment
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
2 Reading Ottoman Banners in the State of the Church
Beyond Texts: A Roman Orientalist Struggling With Objects
The Ottoman Banner in the Holy House of Loreto
Beyond Loreto: The Reading of the Inscription On the Urbino Banner
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Part II Protagonists
3 Oluf Gerhard Tychsen: Orientalist and Object Interpreter in Rostock
Networks for Discussing Objects
First-Hand Study
Accurate Images
Palaeographic Expertise
Scientific Analysis and Historical Bias
Conceptions of Self and Other
Notes
Bibliography
4 Beyond Manuscripts: Maronite Christians as Object Interpreters in Early Modern Europe
The Prince of Mount Lebanon: Habaisci Spaada
Simon Assemani
Translating Arabic for All Fields of Knowledge – Miguel Casiri, Polymath
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Part III Whose Heritage?
5 The “Baptistère De Saint Louis”: The Making of a “Historical Monument”
The Earliest Descriptions of the Baptistère
Aubin-Louis Millin and the Making of the Baptistère De Saint Louis
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
6 “Nuestros Árabes”?: The Rediscovery of Spanish Islamic Architecture From an Enlightened Gaze
A Renewed Cultural Awareness
The Foreign Gaze
Rejection and Acceptance of the Legacy of Al-Andalus
New Lights
Notes
Bibliography
Index
