Two Great Empires Traded for Financial Gain and Achieved a Brilliant Cultural Exchange as Well
A new show illuminates the rich artistic wonders that arose out of the 400 years of commerce between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/headshot/amy.png)
For 400 years, the Eastern Mediterranean was the domain of two great powers: the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire. As rivals, they fought seven different wars, but in peacetime they eagerly pursued mutual profit.
“The Venetians were very pragmatic, and they wanted to do trade,” says Trinita Kennedy, co-curator of the traveling exhibition “Venice and the Ottoman Empire,” which makes its final stop at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville in late May. “The Ottomans … had all the spices and luxury goods.”
The show includes some 150 works of art from Venice’s civic museums, as well as from the recently salvaged wreck of the Venetian merchant ship Gagliana Grossa, which sank en route to Istanbul in 1583, bearing 5,000 panes of glass intended for the sultan’s palace. The objects tell the story of a rich—and enriching—relationship, in which the Ottomans offered the maritime republic not only commercial opportunities but also a cultural exchange that fueled its creativity. As one Venetian ambassador put it, “being merchants, we cannot live without them.”
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/00/42/004273c2-1b08-4b0d-bb57-fa990fc5b77d/aprmay2025_k25_prologue.jpg)
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/c3/73/c3739e69-070e-4f43-955b-434a000fc0d4/aprmay2025_k24_prologue.jpg)
Civic Museums Foundation of Venice - Correr Museum
Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $19.99
This article is a selection from the April/May 2025 issue of Smithsonian magazine
