Islam in Europe

Interesting symposium organised by the Sam Fogg Gallery and held at the Royal Institution on the artistic links between the Islamic world and Europe.

The symposium compliments an exhibition currently in their gallery and brought together some excellent speakers on the topic.

Federica Gigante, from the Khalili Research Centre at the University of Oxford talked about how slaves from the wars with the Ottoman Empire, who were used to row pirate galleys by the Italians, were allowed to manufacture and sell goods in the 'off' season in the Renaissance period. Operating in Western Italy their presence partly explains the more ordinary Ottoman goods in Italy which would not have come via trade routes. I know a lot about this period but had never come across and found it rather mind blowing!

Susana Calvo Capilla , a professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, discussed the political implications of the term Mudejar style in 19th century Spain and now.  I have to admit that Capilla had quite a heavy Spanish accent so I'm not sure I completely followed all of her argument.

The event ended with Michael Franses, an expert in textiles, discussing two fragments of a carpet, outlining the history of different styles of carpet in Western art, the market in faked carpets and the history of the marriage that these fragments might commemorate. Each element of the talk was fascinating but he possibly tried to cover too much in one lecture. I'd have happily listened to a more focused series on each of the elements he covered but taking the whole lot at the end of a full afternoon was a struggle.