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Venice's relations with the East were always close: the eastern countries
were regular ports of call for the whole duration of the Republic.
Between 800 and the year 1000 Venice intensified and developed sea traffic,
reaching increasingly distant ports: this paved the way to Venice's fortune
and its control of the seas towards the East, augmenting its power and
authority. The three great powers of the day were the Teutonic empire
in central Europe, the Greek empire between the coasts of Asia Minor and
the Balkans, and the Arab empire: three empires of different structures
but each of them motivated by great religious power and a firmness of
ideals that went beyond the strictly political.
Rivalry notwithstanding, the German and Byzantine empires shared a common
ideal: awareness of being the legitimate heirs of the Roman empire, continuers
of the Eastern and Western empires. When in the 9th century Venice took
to the seas with the negligible power of an independent Republic dedicated
to trade, the problem of the Arabs (then known as "Saracens") scarcely
affected it.
Venice's basic political line was oriented towards Byzantium, due to an
irrepressible attraction felt for the most active centre of its economic
interests, of art, of splendour and of a theocratic conception of government.
In art, as in every other aspect of its life, Venice was born Byzantine
and essentially remained so for centuries. Political, social and commercial
relationships, its geographical location and the character of its people
all linked Venice with the East, right from the earliest centuries of
its existence. Later when its constitution grew stronger and trade increasingly
intensified, Venice began to be enriched by works, and here too it was
influenced by the East and Byzantium as well as by other places where
Byzantine art flourished (Ravenna, Grado, Parenzo). Artists were brought
from the East to reproduce typically Byzantine models, works and mosaics.
This bond was also aided by the absence of a strong classical tradition
and the lack of relations with the Italic civilisation on the mainland.
Venice became the most typical oriental environment in the west.
Until 1300 and beyond a very great deal of inspiration was drawn from
schemes and models of oriental art, but over the following centuries this
influence gradually weakened with the advent of other currents. The first
city to give Venice artistic models and forms was Byzantium with the gold,
enamels and gems of its court's refined and luxurious art. Then between
the 12th and 14th centuries it was the Arabic-Islamic civilisation that
supplied Venice with new sources of inspiration and forms for its own
creations.
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