Acquiring Hebrew books was a common practice among Christian humanists. More surprising, perhaps, is that a large group of Hebrew manuscripts was produced for a Christian library. A Jewish scribal workshop organized by Johann Jakob Fugger (1516–75) in Venice—here analyzed for the first time—is one of the rarest examples of this phenomenon that emerged out of Renaissance book culture. To understand Fugger’s extensive bibliophilic enterprise, this essay examines the circulation and dissemination of Hebrew texts from the Jewish bookshelf among Christians, the relationships between Christian patrons and Jewish scribes, and the role of manuscripts as agents of print and as objects of collecting.
this portrait, depicting Pygmalion-this work, of slightly smaller dimensions, still exists (Uffizi, inv. 1890 no. 9933). The Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Cap (rediscovered in 2008, now in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Tomilson Hill) is almost identical in size to the Halberdier, and the pose of the sitter is strikingly similar, with the face seen frontally and the body turned to a forty-five-degree angle. This might be the second portrait Vasari mentions, representing Carlo Neroni (1511-67). Neroni must have ordered his image subsequently, around 1530, to conform explicitly to the model. The exhibition focuses on eleven works (though only five were on view in New York), presenting a series of "miraculous encounters" between paintings, and between paintings and drawings. Since this is a small selection, each work is analyzed in detail. In addition to the essays and catalogue entries, the catalogue boasts nearly twenty pages of large, colorful illustrations of details from the three main paintings. It makes an essential contribution to our understanding of Pontormo and is a joy to leaf through as well.
Manuscript Studies brings together scholarship from around the world and across disciplines related to the study of premodern manuscript books and documents, with a special emphasis on the role of digital technologies in advancing manuscript research. Articles for submission should be prepared according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, and follow the style guidelines found at http://mss.pennpress.org.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.