Showing Results 61 - 70 of 303
This ketubah (marriage contract) from Padua, Italy, marks the marriage of Samuel ben Gerson ha-Kohen me-ha-ḥazanim (“of the cantors,” or Cantarini) and Colomba bat David Aziz. The groom was a…
This wooden Torah ark and its two cathedrae (chairs), from the Scuola Grande Synagogue in Mantua, Italy, date from 1543. Decorated with gilt carvings and architectural elements, they were meant to…
This depiction of a Jewish merchant is from a travelogue by French geographer Nicolas Nicolay, who is believed to have also done his own illustrations. Considered at the time a key source of…
Moses ben Abraham Pescarol’s illuminated scroll of Esther, completed in Ferrara, constitutes one of the oldest and most unusual examples of illustrated manuscripts of this biblical book, which is…
This Venetian ketubah (marriage contract) from 1707 marks the wedding of Solomon, son of Isaac Franco de Almeida, to Brancha, daughter of David Fernandes Dias. Near the top, the ancient city of…
The Scuola Italiana is one of five synagogues in the Venetian ghetto, and its smallest. In 1575, the Italian Jewish community established the synagogue in a preexisting building because of a law…
This Torah mantle, from about 1655, is embroidered with silk and gilt-silver thread and is richly decorated with curling, interlocking patterns. The crown dates from the middle of the nineteenth…
The Vittorio Veneto Synagogue, in a town near Venice, was constructed on the second and third floors of a modest house. Elements of the Italian Baroque style are visible in the interior, especially in…
This woodcut depicts Jewish women and girls lighting candles to mark the beginning of the Sabbath or a holiday. The illustration appears in a Yiddish translation by Shim’on Levi Gintsburg, printed in…
This Torah binder is one of the earliest examples from Italy. The binder (also known as a wimpel) was intended to accompany the male child through his lifetime, through the stages of his circumcision…
