Conflict, Commerce, and an Aesthetic of Appropriation in the Italian Maritime Cities, 1000-1150

In Conflict, Commerce, and an Aesthetic of Appropriation in the Italian Maritime Cities, 1000-1150, Karen Rose Mathews analyzes the relationship between war, trade, and the use of spolia (appropriated objects from past and foreign cultures) as architectural decoration in the public monuments of the Italian maritime republics in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. This comparative study addressing five urban centers argues that the multivalence of spolia and their openness to new interpretations made them the ideal visual form to define a distinct Mediterranean identity for the inhabitants of these cities, celebrating the wealth and prestige that resulted from the paired endeavors of war and commerce while referencing the cultures across the sea that inspired the greatest hostility, fear, or admiration.

Karen Rose Mathews, Ph.D. (1995), University of Chicago, is an Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Miami. She has published extensively on the use of spolia in the visual culture of the Mediterranean, concentrating on the artistic production of medieval Italy.

"As its title suggests, Karen Rose Mathews’s book argues that the use of spolia in the maritime cities was the result of two main factors: conflict and commerce. After an introduction, the book presents case studies of Salerno, Venice, Pisa, and Genoa, followed by a very short conclusion and an ample bibliography.[...] The comparing and contrasting of the selected cities is a fruitful one: rather than a general exposition of reuse in medieval Italy, the choice of salient examples within a limited period is methodologically sound. Mathews bolsters her claims with both material and written sources. She demonstrates how the appropriated objects are employed to different effect and in different manner. [...] this informative and well-documented book makes accessible a complex subject matter (which, except for Venice, has been discussed mainly by Italian authors) and highlights the multivalence of spolia with useful insights into their rich cultural associations". Bente Kilerich, in Speculum 95/3, July 2020.