Stories and Histories of Islamic Art in Italy
Supplements to the Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome
Visions, narratives, and passions about Islamic art in Italy
Description
In the past decades, scholarship on Islamic art has challenged the parameters of the discipline, but in the process, the Italian context has often been overlooked. Gathering the voices of prominent international specialists, the book fills an important gap by presenting new research on topics ranging from the medieval to modern periods. Contributors investigate how Islamic artifacts were collected, categorized, and studied; examine Orientalism(s) in Italy and beyond; reconstruct the genealogies of scholars who helped found and develop the academic discipline and museum practices; and offer new scholarship on ceramics, textiles, metalwork, rock crystals, numismatics, and archaeology. The volume reveals the interchange between romantic reveries and more “scientific” Islamic art studies. Following the model of counter-Orientalism proposed by Karla Mallette, it raises questions of identity, otherness, and self-representation within a cultural and geographical context where the Islamic “component” was—and is—perceived either as exotic or integral to Italian identity.
With over 100 illustrations, Stories and Histories of Islamic Art in Italy explores how amateurs, artists, and intellectuals perceived of, depicted, and wrote about the Islamic world, offering new ways to examine Italy’s Islamic past.
Silvia Armando works as an Art Historian for the Italian Ministry of Culture at Istituto Centrale per il Restauro, Rome. She specializes in the historiography of Islamic art in Italy and cultural and artistic interchanges across the medieval Mediterranean.