The Ottawa Chapter of the Canadian Institute for Mediterranean Studies presents an illustrated lecture in collaboration with the College of the Humanities, Carleton University
San Marco, Venice and the Fourth Crusade
by Dr. John Osborne, Professor of Medieval Studies
School for Studies in Art and Culture, Carleton University
Sunday, 17 January 2016, 2:00 p.m.
Paterson Hall 303, Carleton University
Refreshments to follow
Open to the public
The infamous Fourth Crusade set sail from Venice with the intention of recapturing Jerusalem, but in 1204 captured and sacked the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, setting Baldwin of Flanders on the imperial throne. Historians continue to debate the long-term consequences of this diversion, but few have addressed the short-term consequences for the city of Venice, and particularly for the appearance of the state church of San Marco. This illustrated talk will look at the changes made to the structure of the church, and to its decorations, in the aftermath of 1204, all related to the new title of the Doge of Venice as “Lord of a quarter, and a half of a quarter, of the entire Roman Empire”.
Dr. John Osborne is a medievalist and cultural historian, with a special focus on the art and archaeology of the cities of Rome and Venice in the period between the sixth and thirteenth centuries.
His numerous publications cover topics as varied as the Roman catacombs, the fragmentary mural paintings from excavated churches such as San Clemente and S. Maria Antiqua, the decorative program of the church of San Marco in Venice, 17th century antiquarian drawings of medieval monuments, and the medieval understanding and use of Rome’s heritage of ancient buildings and statuary. He is also interested in problems of cultural transmission between Western Europe and Byzantium.
A graduate of Carleton University, the University of Toronto and the University of London, he has held faculty and administrative positions at the University of Victoria (1979-2001) and Queen’s University (2001-2005) and was until June 2015 Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Carleton.