. English: Illustration in the Kaufmann Mishneh Torah. 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 its
. English: Illustration in the Kaufmann Mishneh Torah. 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 th
Size: 1848px × 2704px
Photo credit: © The Picture Art Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., /, /., 1296., unknown.
