Venice and the Ottoman Empire invites us on a journey to the Mediterranean Sea between 1400 and 1800. During this period, Venice—an astonishing city built on hundreds of small islands off the coast of northeast Italy—stood at the crossroads of a vast trade network connecting Africa, Asia, and Europe. To maintain its status as an international emporium, with markets full of spices, ceramics, metalwork, textiles, and other goods, Venice acquired overseas territories to its east and cultivated close ties with the Ottomans, whose empire became the wealthiest and most powerful in the Eastern Mediterranean after their conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and widespread expansion in the sixteenth century.

This ambitious cross-cultural exhibition about the Republic of Venice (697–1797) and the Ottoman Empire (ca. 1299–1922) explores a major chapter in world history. Featuring more than 150 works of art, the exhibition draws from the vast and varied collections of seven Venetian museums: Ca’ Rezzonico, the museum of eighteenth-century Venice; Gallerie dell’Accademia, a museum of Venetian painting; Museo Correr, a museum dedicated to Venetian art, life, and culture; Museo Fortuny, the former home and workshop of the artist Mariano Fortuny (1871– 1949); Museo del Vetro, a glass museum; Museo di Palazzo Mocenigo, a study center for the history of costume, textiles, and perfume; and Palazzo Ducale, the doge’s palace. The Venetian loans are joined by loans from a museum at the University of Zadar in Croatia.

Taking a wide view of two Mediterranean superpowers, the exhibition explores their relationship in artistic, culinary, diplomatic, economic, and political spheres. The works of art are organized thematically; together and individually the objects tell fascinating stories. They include armor, glassware, metalwork, paintings, pottery, printed books, sculptures, and silk textiles. There are even objects recently excavated from a sixteenth-century Venetian ship that sank in the Mediterranean Sea fully loaded with goods intended for the Ottoman market and court.

The Frist Art Museum’s presentation of the exhibition is designed to engage all the senses. In addition to works of art, there is a soundscape of waves crashing in the Mediterranean Sea, a display of spices and smellable scents, a cooking video starring local chefs and a take-home recipe card so you can try their delicious dishes, and touchable samples of sophisticated Fortuny fabrics. In these ways, the exhibition makes vivid the history of Venice and the Ottoman Empire.   

Organized by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and The Museum Box

Vittore Carpaccio. Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, 1501–05. Tempera and oil on panel; 26 1/2 x 20 1/8 in., Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia – Museo Correr, Cl. I n. 0043