If you can’t make it to Italy this summer, try getting up to New York to see the Metropolitan Museum’s Venice and the Islamic World. This timely, well-curated exhibit looks at the melding of cultures in Venice from 828 to 1797, the era when the city was an important port of trade with the Ottoman Empire. Of particular interest is the representation of fabrics, geometric patterns and personalities from the Muslim World in art from Gentile Bellini and Lorenzo Lotto. The latter was renowned for featuring “oriental” carpets in his depictions of Italian patrician life, as you can see in the accompanying image.
Photo from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
