Ellen Phiddian
Cosmos science journalist
A 700-year-old fresco found in an Italian church has provided more evidence of the presence of Islamic art in medieval European Christianity.
The fresco, which depicts a tent used to cover the high altar, is thought to be the only surviving picture of its kind.
“At first, it seemed unbelievable and just too exciting that this could be an Islamic tent,” says Dr Federica Gigante, a historian at the University of Cambridge, UK.
Gigante came across the fresco in the convent church of S. Antonio in Polesine, in the northeast Italian city of Ferrara.
“I quickly dismissed the idea and only went back to it years later with more experience and a braver attitude to research.
“We probably won’t find another such surviving image. I haven’t stopped looking but my guess is that it is fairly unique.”
The fresco was painted in the apse – the alcove at one end of the church. It’s dated to the late 13th or early 14th century, and painted to make the apse look like a blue and gold tent, erected against a starry sky.
“The artist put a lot of effort into making the textile appear life-like,” says Gigante.
Gigante went over the details in the fresco, collecting evidence that suggests it was modelled on a real tent of Islamic origin. There are nails and brackets in the apse where the real tent might have hung.
“If the real tent was only erected in the church on certain occasions, the fresco could have served as a visual reminder of its splendour when it was not in place,” she says.
“The interplay between painted and actual textiles can be found throughout Europe and the Islamic world in the late medieval period.”
Such a tent might have come into the church’s possession through war – possibly via a pope.
“Tents, especially Islamic royal tents were among the most prized gifts in diplomatic exchanges, the most prominent royal insignia on campsites and the most sought-after spoils on battlefields,” says Gigante.
“Tents made their way into Europe as booty. During anti-Muslim expeditions, it was common to pay mercenaries in textiles and a tent was the ultimate prize. The fresco matches descriptions of royal Islamic tents which were seized during the wars of Christian expansion into al-Andalus in the 13th century.”
There’s a papal record of Pope Innocent IV sending fabrics to the convent.
“We can’t be certain but it is possible that a person of high-profile such as Pope Innocent IV gifted the tent,” says Gigante.
Gigante, has described the fresco in an article published in The Burlington Magazine, says there’s a long history of the use of Islamic textiles in medieval Christianity.
“Islamic textiles were associated with the Holy Land from where pilgrims and crusaders brought back the most precious such Islamic textiles,” she says.
“They thought there existed artistic continuity from the time of Christ so their use in a Christian context was more than justified. Christians in medieval Europe admired Islamic art without fully realising it.”
