Liturgical and devotional artefacts in the Venetian churches of the Levant, thirteenth to fifteenth centuries

This essay seeks to investigate the artistic production and circulation among Venetian communities in the territories that were either Byzantine or deeply imbued with Byzantine culture (the Eastern coasts and islands of the Mediterranean). The focus of my study – limited to the late Byzantine period – is on liturgical implements and small furniture and portable devotional objects: within this category, artefacts of diverse nature may be included, from books to silverware, from textiles to icons. Such items constitute an interesting paradigm in the artistic scenario of the Palaiologan era, primarily, because they are “movable” objects, and therefore reflect better than other media the intense circulation of people, tastes, and visual models throughout the Mediterranean basin and beyond. I wish to stress the highest dissemination possible of such objects in the society, from the largest monastic establishments to the smallest parish churches of the islands’ inland. Moreover, although very few of these objects have survived to the present day, written documents offer an invaluable source on their production, acquisition, patronage, and circulation. I refer to the documentary materials preserved in the State Archives of Venice, which provide an unavoidable starting point for any research on the Venetian communities in their homeland as well as overseas, and I analyse – as a case study – the holdings of the Venetian churches on the island of Negroponte.