Art in an Early Global World at WAM: A WAM/College of the Holy Cross CollaborationMain MenuAmanda Luyster17d39c1ecea88fb7ff282fe74a410b89478b8327Created by the Worcester Art Museum and the College of the Holy Cross, with the Worcester Public Schools AP Art History class of 2024. Financial support provided by the Medieval Academy of America and "Scholarship in Action" at Holy Cross.
"View of Venice from the Island of San Giorgio," by Caspar van Wittel, 1697
12024-03-28T13:31:19-07:00Richard Lent3e723f35a685aebf07b8b602f188f085f3fa0c8f448013Caspar van Wittel, "View of Venice from the Island of San Giorgio," 1697, Museo del Prado, P000475.plain2024-08-18T09:34:41-07:00Zoe Zimmer726b0bce27fe407b566d2fd9122871e9e9ddcf50
This painting showing the Last Judgment was probably made during the early 1300s in the Venetian Republic. The Republic of Venice lasted from 697 to 1797, and it reached the height of its power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. First established as a province of the Byzantine empire, the Republic of Venice grew prosperous through trade, due to its access to the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. In its early years, the Republic prospered on the salt trade. Eventually the Venetian Republic dominated trade along the Mediterranean Sea between Europe, North Africa, and Asia.
The Venetian Republic played a central role in the Crusades, especially the Fourth Crusade, which in 1204 conquered the capital of the Byzantine Empire. In the fourteenth century, the Holy League of 1332 was founded as a military alliance between the chief Christian states of the Aegean and Mediterranean in order to combat growing Islamic powers. Co-existing with these growing military and religious tensions in the 1300s -- when this painting was made -- was the beginning of the Renaissance.
Tommy Leimkuhler, College of the Holy Cross, Class of 2025
