Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece

What does this tell us about the Crusades?

By Grace Acquilano '22

This painting informs us that the Crusades blur the boundaries between Byzantine and Western European art. If it were not for the fall of Constantinople, and the transportation of Byzantine icons into the West, Italian painters might not have been exposed to the Byzantine artistic tradition that eventually became taught in Italian art schools. Though many people view the Crusades as merely a bloodbath between Christians and Muslims, war over the Holy Land was not its only defining factor. Instead, the Crusades was a cross-cultural transmission of political, religious, and cultural beliefs. 

The influence the Crusades had on art history is paramount. They helped eliminate the cultural divide between Medieval and Western European artworks. According to Robert Nelson in his article, “Living on the Borders of Byzantine Art,” he asserts, “On the one hand Byzantium and Islam are seen as relevant chapters in the rise of the West; on the other hand, they function as foils for history and thus must be isolated from the principal story in the ways that we reviewed” (Nelson 8). 

In the late thirteenth century and into the early fourteenth century, there is a shift in focus to a new art history that does not isolate Byzantine art from Western art. This shift illuminates the crossing of cultural boundaries brought forth by the Crusades. As we continue to research the impact the Crusades had on art historical discourse, it is important to keep objects such as this one in mind due to its unique blend of Eastern and Western European artistic techniques. 
 

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