Illuminated Haggadot from Medieval Spain: Biblical Imagery and the Passover Holiday

Emerging in Spain after 1250, Jewish narrative figurative painting became a central feature in a group of illuminated Passover Haggadot in the early decades of the fourteenth century. Illuminated Haggadot from Medieval Spain describes how the Sephardic Haggadot reflect different visualizations of scripture under various conditions and aimed at a variety of audiences. Though the specifics of the creation of these works remain a mystery, this book delves into the cultural struggles that existed during this period in history and shows how those conflicts influenced the work. The culture surrounding the creators of the Sephardic Haggadot was saturated in conflict revolving around acculturation, polemics with Christianity, and struggles within Sephardic Jewry itself. Kogman-Appel presents the Sephardic Haggadot as visual manifestations of a minority struggling for cultural identity both in relation to the dominant culture and within its own realm.

Table of Contents:
Contents List of Illustrations Preface Introduction Part I: Acculturation and Borrowings from Christian Art 1. The Manuscripts 2. Motif Books and Images from Memory: Image Making in the Golden Haggadah and British Library, Or. 2884 3. The Rylands Haggadah and British Library, Or. 1404 4. The Sarajevo Haggadah and the Bologna-Modena Mahzor 5. Other Methods of Image Making Conclusions to Part One Part II: Meaning and Message 6. Jewish Biblical Exegesis Employed in the Strategy of Image Making 7. Designing the Messages of the Sephardic Picture Cycles: The Cultural Profile of the People Involved Conclusions to Part Two Notes Bibliography Photo Credits Index

About the Author :
Katrin Kogman-Appel is Lecturer in the Department of Arts at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva. Kogman-Appel's credentials include publishing Jewish Art Between Islam and Christianity: The Decoration of Hebrew Bibles in Spain (2001) as well as contributing to Imaging the Early Medieval Bible, edited by John Williams and published by Penn State Press in 1999.

Review :
"The book breaks new ground in its close examination of the seven earliest and most significant illuminated Sephardic Haggadot as representatives of a new phenomenon - the embellishment of Haggadot with extensive cycles of Biblical imagery. Recognizing the diversity of relationships among these works, it grounds the emergence and content of their imagery within the unique cultural-intellectual context of late medieval Iberian Jewry." - Pamela A. Patton, Southern Methodist University"