Battle of Lepanto - Depictions in Art and Culture

Depictions in Art and Culture

The significance of Lepanto has inspired artists in various fields.

The only known commemorative music composed after the victory is the motet Canticum Moysis (Song of Moses Exodus 15) Pro victoria navali contra Turcas by the Spanish composer based in Rome Fernando de las Infantas

There were celebrations and festivities with triumphs and pageants at Rome and Venice with Turkish slaves in chains.

There are many pictorial representations of the battle, including one in the Doge's Palace in Venice, by Andrea Vicentino on the walls of the Sala dello Scrutinio, which replaced Tintoretto's Victory of Lepanto, destroyed by fire in 1577. A painting by Paolo Veronese is in the collection of the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice and Titian's Allegory of the Battle of Lepanto, using the battle as a background, hangs in the Prado in Madrid. A painting by Filipino painter Juan Luna depicting the Battle of Lepanto is also displayed at the Spanish Senate in Madrid.

The battle has also appeared in literature and poetry. Spanish poet Fernando de Herrera wrote the poem "Canción en alabanza de la divina majestad por la victoria del Señor Don Juan" in 1572. The English author G. K. Chesterton wrote a poem Lepanto, first published in 1911 and republished many times since. It provides a series of poetic visions of the major characters in the battle, particularly the leader of the Christian forces, Don Juan of Austria (John of Austria). It closes with verses linking Miguel de Cervantes, who fought in the battle, with the "lean and foolish knight" he would later immortalize in Don Quixote. Miguel de Cervantes lost the use of an arm in this battle and therefore he is known as el manco de Lepanto in the Hispanic world.

The battle also features prominently in "Scenes from an Execution" by British playwright Howard Barker, in which a fictional artist is commissioned to create a painting of the battle.