Nirit Ben-Aryeh Debby

This book carefully dissects and contextualizes a vast (6.12 metre x 2.58 metre) seventeenth-century panorama of Constantinople that is not only an exceptional representation of the city, but also an elaborate piece of anti-Ottoman propaganda designed by the Franciscan friar Niccolò Guidalotto da Mondavio. It depicts Constantinople as seen from across the Golden Horn in Galata, throwing new light on both the city and the relationships between the rival Venetian Republic and the Ottoman Empire. It trumpets the unalloyed Christian zeal of Fra Guidalotto and serves as a fascinating example of visual crusade propaganda against the Ottomans. As such, the panorama is a source of cultural clash, a confrontation point between Venice and the Ottoman Empire.