Unprecedented in its range - extending from Venice to the New World and from the Holy Roman Empire to the Ottoman Empire - this collection probes the place that the Ottoman Turks occupied in the Western imaginaire, and the ways in which this occupation expressed itself in the visual arts. Individual essays in this volume examine specific images or groups of images, problematizing the 'truths' they present and analyzing the contexts that shape the presentation of Ottoman or Islamic subject matter in European art. The contributors trace the transmission of early modern images and representations across national boundaries and across centuries to show how, through processes of translation that often involved multiple stages, the figure of the Turk (and by extension that of the Muslim) underwent a multiplicity of interpretations that reflect and reveal Western needs, anxieties and agendas. The essays reveal how anachronisms and inaccuracies mingled with careful detail to produce a "Turk," a figure which became a presence to reckon with in painting, sculpture, tapestry and printmaking.

About the Author
James G. Harper (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania) is Associate Professor of Renaissance and Baroque Art at the University of Oregon and a fellow of Villa I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies.

Reviews

'This collection offers a rich and multifaceted history of Islam and the Turk as seen through European eyes. Rendering the centrality of the "Turk" to European self-fashioning over three centuries the essays gathered here make an important contribution to an already very lively field of scholarship in an engaging, provocative and highly readable way.' Nebahat Avcioglu, Columbia University's Global Center in Paris, France

'This well-knit collection on the representation of the "Turk" is unique in that it includes eleven studies of Venetian, Tuscan, German, Flemish, Danish and New Spanish paintings and literature, and concludes with an Ottoman view of the "Europeans." By focusing on 1450-1750, the period before the beginning of Orientalism, James G. Harper, the editor, shows how Euro-Christian representations of the "Turk," which stemmed from political and military confrontations, assumed visual importance in churches, monasteries, and other ecclesiastical environments. This religious art of war defined the imaginaire of early modern societies, and continues to cast its shadow on our world today.' Nabil Matar, University of Minnesota, USA

'An excellent volume in Ashgate's 'Transculturalisms, 1400-1700' series, this collection looks at the image of the Ottoman world and Islam in the early-modern period... An important volume.' European Review of History

'... much useful material.' English Historical Review

'The highly nuanced essays in this excellent volume provide a clear sense of the divergent visual attitudes towards Europe's most significant other in this period ... The Turk and Islam in the Western Eye is a welcome addition to recent scholarship on the Renaissance, the Mediterranean, and east-west cultural interaction.' European History Quarterly

Book Information
ISBN 9781138248311
Author James G. Harper
Format Paperback
Page Count 342
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 580g