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McBee
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[http://richardmcbee.com/images/pdfs/Jewish_Art_Primer_Complete.pdf jewish art]
[http://richardmcbee.com/images/pdfs/Jewish_Art_Primer_Complete.pdf jewish art definition]
[http://richardmcbee.com/writings/jewish-art-before-1800/item/the-sarajevo-haggadah-the-choice-of-images sarajevo]
[http://richardmcbee.com/writings/jewish-art-before-1800/item/the-sarajevo-haggadah-the-choice-of-images sarajevo]
[http://richardmcbee.com/writings/jewish-art-before-1800/item/rylands-haggadah-part-i rylands 1]
[http://richardmcbee.com/writings/jewish-art-before-1800/item/rylands-haggadah-part-i rylands 1]

Revisión del 13:40 3 jun 2015

Esta es mi zona de pruebas. Es subpágina de mi página de usuario y me sirve para hacer pruebas. Ella no es un artículo de la enciclopedia. Solicito no modificarla. Gracias, Calimeronte

Talla con monje inspirado por un ángel al traducir el texto bíblico. Inscr.: "Nuestro padre que [está] en los cielos santificará tu nombre". Misericordia gótica, Pons de Thomières, Francia.

Cita literal de imagen en Commons

Planchas sobre la Inquisición en Caprichos 23 y 24, con personajes vestidos con sambenito y titulados ellos Aquellos polbos y No hubo remedio. En sus apuntes (Álbum C, 1803-24), Goya expresa su resentimiento hacia la Inquisición. Allí, muchas de las imágenes están comentadas o tituladas explicando la causa de lo que ocurre: Por haber nacido en otra parte, Por linaje de ebreos, Por mober la lengua en otro modo, Por casarse con quien quiso, etc. señalando la frivolidad con que la Inquisición perseguía a sus víctimas. La visión de Goya con respecto a la Inquisición ya había cambiado. De ser una institución anticuada, que se asienta sobre supersticiones y un pueblo ignorante, una institución específicamente española, pasa a convertirse en un símbolo de la injusticia universal.

A verificar

DATUM

Mishné Torá = código legal

  • Mishné Torá, 1342. Sefer Ahavah. a skilled non-Jewish artist of Perugia by the name of Matteo di Ser Cambio. Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, Heb. 4* 1103. 14th century. A page with a decorated title-panel of Sefer Ahavah (Book of Love) from the second book of the Mishneh Torah. Spain and Italy, 14th century. This is one of the most elaborately decorated manuscripts of the Mishneh Torah. In the absence of a colophon, it can be inferred from the script that the manuscript was copied either in Spain or southern France in the first half of the 14th century (in any case, before 1351, when the codex was sold in Avignon). The scribe's name was probably Isaac, since this name is decorated in several places in the text. The manuscript was illuminated in burnished gold and lively wash colors by a skilled non-Jewish artist of Perugia by the name of Matteo di Ser Cambio. Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, Heb. 4* 1103 [2] - foto y datos JUNL. El libro fue escrito entre 1300 y 1350, luego miniado en Sefarad y hacia 1400 con iluminaciones realizadas por un artista del taller de Mateo Di Ser Cambio proveniente de o en Perugia.
  • Guía de los Perplejos, Barcelona, 1348. Facsimile of a page from Maimonides' great philosophical work Moreh Nevukhim (Guide of the Perplexed) written originally in Arabic and here in the Hebrew translation of Samuel ibn Tibbon (ca. 1160-1230) copied and illuminated in Barcelona, 1348. The seated figure is holding an astrolabe. Royal Library, Copenhagen, Cod. Hebr. XXXVII, fol. 114r [3]
  • Mishné Torá, Lisboa, 1472. Facsimile of the colophon of the Lisbon Mishneh Torah written by the scribe Solomon ibn Alzuk and completed in 1471-72. The British Library, London, Harley Ms. 5699, fol. 434v. [4]
  • Golden Haggadah. "The Golden Haggadah, one of the finest surviving Spanish Hebrew manuscripts, was made near Barcelona in Northern Spain. The Haggadah, which literally means ‘narration’, is the service-book used in Jewish households on Passover Eve to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt. The text is preceded by a series of full-page miniatures depicting scenes mainly from the Book of Exodus. These sumptuous illuminations set against gold-tooled backgrounds earned the manuscript its name and were executed in the northern French Gothic style" BL + "The Golden Haggadah is one of the finest of the surviving Haggadah manuscripts from medieval Spain. The Haggadah, which literally means 'narration', is the Hebrew service-book used in Jewish households on Passover Eve at a festive meal to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt. | It is one of the most frequently decorated Jewish books. The fact that it was intended for use at home with its main aim being to educate the young, provides ample scope for artistic creativity. | The Golden Haggadah was probably made near Barcelona in about 1320. In addition to the Haggadah text itself the manuscript contains liturgical Passover poems according to the Spanish rite. The text is preceded by a series of full-page miniatures depicting scenes mainly from the Book of Exodus. These sumptuous illuminations set against gold-tooled backgrounds earned the manuscript its name and were executed by two artists in the northern French Gothic style. | The 17th-century Italian binding has an elaborate border on each cover. Hebrew is written from right to left, so the Golden Haggadah opens from the right. British Library Add. MS 27210 BL Virtual Bk Images Only

IMAGO

Menorah. Illuminated leaf with illustration of the Menorah. IM. Spain, Late 15th century. Since the Temple’s destruction, depictions of its seven-branched candelabrum (Menorah) have served a symbol of the Temple and of redemption. Medieval Hebrew manuscripts contain many portrayals of the Menorah alongside other Tabernacle and Temple vessels. In Spain and Provence, these were especially profuse, and the Bible codex was sometimes called a Mikdashyah (God’s Temple). This single leaf, probably part of a manuscript, shows the Menorah symmetrically flanked by tongs, incense shovels, and the three-stepped stone on which, according to the Mishnah, the priest stood to trim the lamp.

Sefer Mishpatim (enlace escrito desde commons). Facsimile of a page with a decorated title-panel of Sefer Mishpatim (Book of Civil Law) from the 13th book of the Mishneh Torah, northern Italy, 15th century. In the bottom register three men stand before a panel of four seated judges. The top register consists of a jousting scene that is unrelated to the text. Private collection, fol. 298v. [5]

Commons categories

Jewish Art

Judaism in art

en:Category:Hebrew_manuscripts,_Wellcome_Collection Heb Mss Wellcome Coll.

Heb Ill Mss

Hagadot

Meguilot Ester

Sefarad

Hagadá Kaufmann, Cataluña, S. XIV

Hagadá Rylands, Cataluña, s. XIV. John Rylands University Library, Manchester

Hagadá Dorada, 1320

Hagadá Barcelona, 1350

Hagadá Sarajevo, Barcelona, 1350 - Hagadá de Sarajevo

Biblia de Alba

Asquenaz

Mishné Torá Kaufmann, Fr, 1290

Hagadá Rothschild, It, 1450

en:Category:Hebrew_calligraphy Hebrew callygraphy

LINKS n ARTICLES

JVL Illuminated Hebrew Mss.

Burgos 1260 (JNL Damascus Keter)

JTS Treasures Prato Haggadah JTS Prato Haggadah - facsímil Prato Hagadah 2006

David Kaufmann. Mss. miniados hebreos del medioevo . En la Biblioteca de la Academia Húngara de Ciencias. - versión castellana. - folios; Hagadá catalana (MS A 422); A; B; Mishneh Torah fr (MS A 77); artistas; profanidad | Mahzor (MS A 384); zodíaco; ver también: mishné torá fr 1296 (Ms A 77) y Majzor de-sur 1320 (Ms 384)

Yale

McBee jewish art definition sarajevo rylands 1 rylands 2 rylands in context ES synagogues

Heb Mss S Collection Pins Heb Mss Russian Collection Pins Superfine Judaica French Collection Pins Sefarad Pins Haggadah Pins Judaica

BL Virtual Books : Accesible Golden Haggadah - Golden Haggadah - Lisbon Bible - Vesalius

Trabajados

En curso

Trabajados eventualmente

  • Abraham
  • Arte sefardí
  • Biblia de Alba
  • Capricho (arte)
  • Cautiverio de Babilonia 586-537 aEC
  • Crónicas de Núremberg
  • Cúpula de la Roca
  • Doce Tribus de Israel
  • Dybbuk
  • Efraím
  • Gótico español
  • Hartmann Schedel
  • Israelita
  • Jehú
  • José (patriarca)
  • Judaísmo y cristianismo
  • Leví (patriarca)
  • Macabeos
  • Manasés (hijo de José)
  • Mevaseret Sion
  • Modernismo (arte)
  • Obelisco Negro
  • Oseas
  • Palmaj
  • Sinagoga
  • Tabernáculo
  • Tierra Prometida
  • Tribu de Efraín
  • Tribu de Leví
  • Tribu de Manasés
  • Pogromo de Kishinev

Aún sin trabajar

  • Agam - Yaacob Agam
  • Arca de la Alianza
  • Biblia hebrea
  • Chagall - Marc Chagall
  • Diáspora sefardí
  • Diez Mandamientos
  • Divisiones étnicas judías
  • Dura Europos
  • Estela de Mesha (inscripciones paleohebreas), siglo IX aEC
  • Gueto
  • Hagadá
  • Hebreo - Idioma hebreo
  • Hilel
  • Historia de los judíos en España
  • Historia de los judíos en la Tierra de Israel
  • Historia del Antiguo Israel
  • Reino de Israel
  • Reino de Judá — 930-587 aEC
  • Holocausto
  • Homaranismo - Hilelismo
  • Israëls - Jozef Israëls
  • Mendelsohn - Erich Mendelsohn
  • Museo de Arte y de Historia del Judaísmo, París
  • Oppenheim - Moritz Daniel Oppenheim
  • Pueblo judío
  • Sion
  • Solución final
  • Sucot
  • Talmud
  • Tanaj
  • Teoría del reemplazo
  • Tierra Santa
  • Tribus de Israel
  • Zona de Asentamiento

A ser creados

Compilación material a ser incluido en entradas diversas

Recursos a ser incorporados

Material a traducir y explorar su imaginería:

  • Washington, D.C., Library of Congress, Arthur Szyk: Artist for Freedom, diciembre de 1999-mayo de 2000; accedido 22 de junio de 2014. Arthur Szyk (1894 - 1951) was one America's leading political artists during World War II, when he produced hundreds of anti-Axis illustrations and cartoons in aid of the Allied war effort. Throughout his career he created art in the service of human rights and civil liberties -- in his native Poland, in Paris where he was trained during the 1920s, and in America, the country he adopted in 1940. Settling in the United States, Szyk announced, "At last, I have found the home I have always searched for. Here I can speak of what my soul feels. There is no other place on earth that gives one the freedom, liberty and justice that America does." / Born of Jewish parents in Lodz, Poland, Szyk acquired his early art training in Paris and Cracow. Between 1919 and 1920, during Poland's war against the Soviet Bolsheviks, he served as artistic director of the Department of Propaganda for the Polish army regiment quartered in Lodz. In 1921, he moved to Paris where he lived and worked for ten years. In 1934, Szyk traveled to the United States for exhibitions of his work, including one at the Library of Congress where a series of thirty-eight miniatures commemorating George Washington and the Revolutionary period were shown. In late 1940, after a period of residence in England, he immigrated to the United States. / In America, Arthur Szyk embraced the patriotic and democratic spirit of his adopted country. His work entitled The United States of America, includes portrayals of an African American and Native American, representing the diversity of American society, as well as familiar imagery -- Hoover Dam, the Manhattan skyline, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Pony Express. His anti-Axis cartoons appeared frequently in such popular magazines as Collier's and in two published compilations, The New Order (1941) and Ink & Blood (1946). He also illustrated numerous works, including a richly rendered, magnificently printed Haggadah (1940), reflecting his passion for his own Jewish heritage and concern for the Jewish people in the face of Nazi hostility.
  • Washington, D.C., Library of Congress, Scrolls from the Dead Sea: The Ancient Library of Qumram and Modern Scholarship, abril-agosto de 1993; accedido 22 de junio de 2014. The exhibition Scrolls From the Dead Sea: The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Scholarship brings before the American people a selection from the scrolls which have been the subject of intense public interest. Over the years questions have been raised about the scrolls' authenticity, about the people who hid them away during the period in which they lived, about the secrets the scrolls might reveal, and about the intentions of the scrolls' custodians in restricting access. The Library's exhibition describes the historical context of the scrolls and the Qumran community from whence they may have originated; it also relates the story of their discovery 2,000 years later. In addition, the exhibition encourages a better understanding of the challenges and complexities connected with scroll research.

Ilustraciones temas varios

Arca de la Alianza Augusta Victoria

Symbols on Jewish gravestones

  • Star of David : The six-pointed Star of David, a symbol of Judaism, is frequently found on Jewish tombstones.
  • Cohanim Hands – Priestly Blessing : Two hands with outspread fingers indicated that the dead man was descended from priestly stock (Kohanim) who blessed the people in this fashion
  • Ewer : Levite pitcher (and bowl)
  • the shofar (ram's horn) indicating that the deceased was a blower of the shofar
  • deer : people whose name is Zvi, Hirsch or Naftali (deer representing the tribe of Naphtali)
  • lion : people whose name is Aryeh, Judah, Leib or Loew (lion representing the tribe of judah)
  • bear : people whose name is Dov and Ber.
  • wolf : representing the Tribe of Benjamin
  • books : an open book indicates the presence of a rabbi, an officiating minister, or just a scholar
  • bookshelves : groups of books, sometimes arranged in an open bookcase, or on shelves.
  • fish : zodiac sign for the month of Adar
  • menorah : one of the oldest symbols of Judaism
  • candles : one of the most accepted symbols of the woman. The candle was lit by the Jewish woman. Most of the candlesticks have three branches but there are ones with two, five and more. A broken candle on a gravestone symbolizes an early death, at a young age.
  • crown . כתר שם טוב "crown of a good name" (based on Mishna in Avos 4:17)
  • tree : A broken tree or branch is a sign that the deceased was young at the time of death
  • bird : appears on the gravestones of many women
  • grapes : cluster of grapes is an emblem of Israel,

Biblia por Tissot

Biblia por Tissot addendum

Compilados

Referencia bíblica

Filatelia

Mapas

T

Ayuda

Destructividad dolosa y persistente

Asunto
  • Vandalismo insistente y doloso de REGISTRO , [https: ... aquí], FECHA. - Solicito su exclusión de Wikipedia por destructividad intencional y persistente. Justificación: al focalizar en la investigación y desarrollo de cada artículo invertimos tiempo y dedicación en nuestro quehacer; ese ha debe ser nuestro trabajo y no perder el tiempo con gente que se dedica a destruir Wikipedia - Para sentar precedente, en caso de no haberlo, o bien para reafirmar nuestras políticas, la respuesta de los bibliotecarios wikipedísticos debe ser inequívoca, severa y contundente, caso contrario perderemos nuestras vidas SOLO revirtiendo los caprichos de anónimos malintencionados. No estaría por otra parte de más el que sólo los usuarios registrados podamos editar: por el momento libramos una batalla contra "fantasmas". Agradezco y envío mis saludos cordiales para todo el Equipo Wikipedístico,
Usuario que lo solicita
Respuesta

(a rellenar por un bibliotecario)

Cronología

Abraham
2000.[3][4]
1850.[5]

Patriarcas
2000-1500.[4]

Éxodo, seguido de la revelación de la Torá en Sinaí
1300.[4]
siglo XIII.[3]
1250.[5]

David, rey de Israel, conquista Jerusalén y la hace capital de su reino.
1010-970.[5]
1005-965.[4]

"Canción del Mar", poema bíblico proclama a YHVH como dios supremo sobre todos los demás
1000.[4]

Reinado de Salomón; construcción del Primer Templo de Jerusalén.
970-931.[5]

Separación de los reinos: Judá e Israel
931.[5]

Salmanazar V toma Samaria
722.[5]

Rey Josías de Judá prohibe el culto a cualquier otro diose que no sea YHVH
622.[4]

Nabucodonosor toma Jerusalén; destrucción del Templo y deportación de los habitantes a Babilonia
587-586.[5]
586.[3][4]

Libro de Isaías escrito en Babilonia y el reino de Judá
540.[4]

Edicto de Ciro II de Persia autoriza el regreso de los exiliados; reconstrucción de Jerusalén y su Templo
538.[5][3]

Segundo Templo de Jerusalén
516.[3]

400 Alejandro Magno conquista Judea
[5]

Judea bajo dominio de los Lagidos de Egipto
285-200.[5]

Dominio de la dinastía seleucida del reino de Siria
200-167.[5]

Revuelta de los Macabeos
siglo II a.E.C.[3]
167-142.[5]

Manuscritos del Mar Muerto
150 a.E.C - 68 E.C.[4]

Reino de la dinastía hasmonea
142-37.[5]

Pompeyo entra en Jerusalén; control romano sobre Judea
63.[5][3]

Herodes proclamado "rey de Judea" por el senado romano
40.[5]

Herodes el Grande entra en función, estabiliza la situación política y remodela el Segundo Templo de Jerusalén
37-4.[5][3]

Filón de Alejandría describe al Dios de la Biblia en términos filosóficos griegos, pero sin atributos aristotélicos
30 a.E.C - 50 E.C.[4]

Dinastía herodiana

4-41.[5]

Procuradores romanos dirigen Judea
44-66.[5]

Guerra judía; Roma envía al general Vespaciano para combatir a los judíos
66-70.[5]

Tito toma Jerusalén e incendia el Templo
70.[5][3]

Rebeliones contra el imperio romano
70-135.[4]

Toma de Masada
73.[5]

Revuelta de Bar Kojba
132-135.[5]

Comienza la redacción del Talmud
170.[3]

Compilación de la Mishná - versión escrita de la ley oral judaica
200.[5][4]

Cristianismo pasa a ser religión oficial del Imperio Romano
392.[3]

Culminación del Talmud de Babilonia - incluye la Mishná y la Guemará (serie de comentarios sobre la Mishná)
425.[4]
500.[5]

Rabí Shimon bar Yojai compila el Zohar, obra clave de la cábala o misticismo judaico
1250.[4]

Bibliografía

  • Sed-Rajna, Gabrielle. Abecedaire du Judaïsme, París: Flammarion, 2000.
  • Wilkinson, Philip. Religiões (Religions, 2008), Río de Janeiro: Zahar, 2011.
  • Jones, Gareth, y Georgina Palffy, eds., O livro das religiões (The Religions Book), San Pablo: Globo, 2013.

Referencias

  1. Another remarkable trait of this manuscript is that it contains many profane illustrations in the margin – in one instance the illustration is even obscene – which bear no relation whatsoever to the text. This cannot be regarded a unique feature of manuscripts produced in the middle of the 13th century: their emergence was closely connected to the spread of Dominican and Franciscan preaching at the time with parables and exempla using motifs from animal fables, bestiaries and – sometimes even becoming completely independent of the text itself. The widespread use of anecdotes in sermons was meant to rekindle flagging interest in theological dogma among believers, and the margin illustrations in manuscripts are to a considerable extent visual manifestations of themes popularized through fabliaux and exempla. Gabrielle Sed-Rajna has shown that most of “the marginal figures have been transferred to this manuscript from a model book used also for several contemporary Latin manuscripts from the same area, executed for the local aristocratic family Bar” – an example of close professional relationship between craftsmen of the Jewish and Christian communities. The popularity of representations of this kind in Christian art in general is attested, for instance, by the fiery diatribe of Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) against non-religious monastic ornamentation. It may be remarked that margin illustrations – including obscene representations – abound in Christian liturgical books while they are rare in secular ones, a strange phenomenon, which Randall is inclined to attribute to an attempt at “provocation by contrast.” Not infrequently it is difficult to decipher the exact symbolic meaning of a given illustration; sometimes this is hardly any longer possible in view of the frequent occurrence of more or less abstruse references to contemporary persons and ideas. There can be no doubt, however, that these margin illustrations were often simply the figments of the artists' imaginations, “diversions which relieved the tedium of daily life.” Thus for instance at the bottom of folio 46 of volume I of our manuscript, the frontispiece of the Book of Adoration, we can see a scene “from the Roman de Renard: the fox, having stolen a goose (or here a cock), is pursued by a woman brandishing a spindle.” In connection with the obscene scene in the upper margin – a man shooting an arrow at the nude hindquarters of a man bending forward – one cannot help but imagine the illuminator who, tired of his monotonous work, suddenly conceives a prank just like an adolescent, in the same way as his modern-day successor, the composer of entries in an encyclopaedia, tired of carding, inserts an entry on a non-existent painter into the serious work of reference, or the lexicographer suddenly gives vent to the accumulated tension of monotony in one of his entries - [1].
  2. Jewish Art, ed. Cecil Roth, Tel Aviv: Massadah Press, 1961, cols. 203-204: "Joshua".
  3. a b c d e f g h i j k Philip Wilkinson, Religiões (2008), Río de Janeiro: Zahar, 2011, pp. 61-83.
  4. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n O livro das religiões (The Religions Book), ed. Gareth Jones y Georgina Palffy, San Pablo: Globo, 2013, pp. 164-199.
  5. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n ñ o p q r s t u v w Gabrielle Sed-Rajna, Abecedaire du Judaïsme, París: Flammarion, 2000, pp. 116-117.

YIVO

Golden Haggadah DATA

Golden Haggadah, Northern Spain, probably Barcelona, c.1320 British Library Add. MS. 27210

Golden Haggadah The extravagant use of gold-leaf in the backgrounds of its 56 miniature paintings earned this magnificent manuscript its name: the 'Golden Haggadah'. It was made around 1320, in or near Barcelona, for the use of a wealthy Jewish family. The holy text is written on vellum pages in Hebrew script, reading from right to left. Its stunning miniatures illustrate stories from the biblical books of 'Genesis' and 'Exodus' and scenes of Jewish ritual.

What does this page show? Anticlockwise from top right: Adam naming the animals, the Creation of Adam and Eve, the Temptation, Cain and Abel offering a sacrifice, Cain slaying Abel, and lastly Noah, his wife and sons coming out of the ark. God's image is forbidden in Jewish religious contexts, and is totally absent in all the miniatures here. Instead, angels are seen intervening at critical moments.

What is a haggadah? A haggadah is a collection of Jewish prayers and readings written to accompany the Passover 'seder', a ritual meal eaten on the eve of the Passover festival. The ritual meal was formalised during the 2nd century, after the example of the Greek 'symposium', in which philosophical debate was fortified by food and wine. The literal meaning of the Hebrew word 'haggadah' is a 'narration' or 'telling'. It refers to a command in the biblical book of 'Exodus', requiring Jews to "tell your son on that day: it is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt". Perhaps because it was mainly intended for use at home, and its purpose was educational, Jewish scribes and artists felt completely free to illustrate the Haggadah. Indeed it was traditionally the most lavishly decorated of all Jewish sacred writings, giving well-to-do Jews of the middle ages a chance to demonstrate their wealth and good taste as well as their piety. The man for whom the 'Golden Haggadah' was made must have been rich indeed.

What is Passover? Passover commemorates one of the most important events in the story of the Jewish people. Like Christianity and Islam, Judaism traces its origins back to Abraham. He was leader of the Israelites, a group of nomadic tribes in the Middle East some 4,000 years ago. Abraham established a religion that distinguished itself from other local beliefs by having only one, all-powerful God. According to a Covenant made between them, the Jews would keep God's laws, and in return they would be protected as chosen people. The Israelites were captured and taken as slaves to Egypt, where they suffered much hardship. Eventually, a prophet called Moses delivered the Jews from their captivity with the help of several miraculous events intended to intimidate the Egyptian authorities. The last of these was the sudden death of the eldest son in every family. Jewish households were spared by smearing lambs' blood above their doors - a sign telling the 'angel of death' to pass over.

Why was a Jewish manuscript made in Spain? The wandering tribes of Israel finally settled in the 'promised land' after their delivery from captivity in Egypt. But the twin kingdoms of Israel and Judah were to fall to the Assyrians and Babylonians. Then, in 63 BC, the region came under the governance of the Roman Empire. In 70 AD, the Roman army destroyed the Second Jewish Temple and sacked Jerusalem; in 135 AD they crushed a Judaean uprising. As a result of this many Jews went into exile. Some migrated across north Africa to Spain. For many centuries, these 'Sephardic' Jews lived peacefully and productively under both Christian and Islamic rulers. The Jewish community in Barcelona had been established since Roman times and was one of the most affluent in Spain by the time the 'Golden Haggadah' was produced. Jews acted as advisers, physicians and financiers to the Counts of Barcelona, who provided economic and social protection. They grew attuned to the tastes of the court and began commissioning manuscripts decorated in Christian style. Though the scribe who wrote its Hebrew text would have been a Jew, the illuminators of the 'Golden Haggadah' are likely to have been Christian artists, instructed in details of Judaic symbolism by the scribe or patron.

Who made the Golden Haggadah? The illumination of the manuscript - its paintings and decoration - was carried out by two artists. Though their names are unknown, the similarity of their styles implies they both worked in the same studio in the Barcelona region. The gothic style of northern French painting was a strong influence on Spanish illuminators, and these two were no exceptions. There is also Italian influence to be seen in the rendering of the background architecture. Differences between the two artists may be attributed to their individual talents and training. The painter of the scenes shown here tends towards stocky figures with rather exaggerated facial expressions. The second artist has a greater sense of refinement and achieves a better sense of space.

How did the 'Golden Haggadah' come to the British Library? Islamic rule in Spain came to an end in 1492, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella (the Catholic Monarchs) defeated the Muslim army at Granada and restored the whole of Spain to Christianity. Months later the entire Jewish population was expelled. The manuscript found its way to Italy and passed through various hands, serving as a wedding present at one stage. In 1865, the British Library (then the British Museum Library) bought it as part of the collection of Hebrew poet and bibliophile Giuseppe (or Joseph) Almanzi.

BL