ABSTRACT
For over 400 years Crete remained under Venetian jurisdiction. The Venetian occupation of Crete came as the natural consequence of the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204 and the dismembering of the Byzantine Empire and resulted in a total change in the island’s prevailing political, ecclesiastical and social conditions. In some cases, the people are able to trace the movements of Cretan painters outside Crete through their signatures on icons. Although some interesting deductions on the status of Cretan painters in contemporary Veneto-Cretan society can be made from their signatures on icons, these fall far short of providing an overall picture. Documents exist that shed even greater light on the division of labour, characteristic of the medieval urban economy and the laws of the market that formed within it. Sixteenth-century Crete breathed the atmosphere of the Renaissance, which shaped the artistic creativity of the period.
