Forging Cultural Universes in the Mediterranean Renaissance: Altarpieces in Sardinia, Prints by Raphael, and Connections with the Flemish and Spanish Worlds

Cultural exchanges and maritime traffic, led by the expansionist and trading ambitions of the Crown of Aragon, connected the territories of the Western Mediterranean. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the strategic security guaranteed by Sardinia, Sicily, and the Balearic Islands, which at the same time provided supplies for various goods (cereals, tuna, leather, coral, salt), allowed these outposts to circulate a wide range of languages and styles, and—together with commodities—sailors and agents from the worlds of business, the church, diplomacy, and politics.