Defeating the Enemy: the Image of the Turkish Slave in the Adriatic Periphery of the Papal States in the 18th Century

The aim of this paper is to analyze the historical reasons for the use of the image of the Turkish slave (that was created in the late 16th century in Venice, after the battle of Lepanto) in two altarpieces realized in the second half of the 18th century in the Marche region, that is a periphery of the Papal States. The first work is an Our Lady of the Rosary, preserved in the Santissimo Sacramento church of Petriolo, in the province of Macerata, while the second picture is an Our Lady of the Victory, exposed in the church of St. Pius V of Grottammare, in the province of Ascoli Piceno. After analyzing the historical differences between these two iconographies, both related to the victory of Lepanto, this essay will discuss the attribution of the two paintings, based on a rich hitherto unpublished archival documentation. These documents also enable us to partly understand the causes of the humiliating staging of the defeated Turkish enemy, such a long time after the victory of Lepanto, and in a time when all major Mediterranean forces seek, on the contrary, to establish peace agreements with the Ottoman Empire.