- 104
An Important Illustrated Esther Scroll, Shalom Italia, [Amsterdam: ca. 1641]
Description
- vellum, ink
Catalogue Note
This illustrated scroll was designed by Shalom Italia, a renowned seventeenth-century Jewish artist. Italia was born in Mantua in 1619, and archival documents indicate that he had settled in Amsterdam by 1641. While in Amsterdam, he created a remarkable series of copperplate borders to embellish Esther scrolls. His innovative designs would have an unprecedented influence on the subsequent decoration and illustration of Esther scrolls throughout Europe.
Shalom Italia’s work is characterized by the motifs of triumphal arches and depictions of the central characters of the Purim story – Ahasuerus, Esther, Mordecai, and Haman – in niches between the text columns. In addition, he employed a wide selection of contemporary artistic imagery, including classical ornamentation such as garlands and urns, as well as a broad array of flora and fauna.
The text of the Book of Esther is penned within an arcade frame topped by a broken pediment and adorned with profile masks facing a floral vase. Above each pediment is a pair of gracefully reclining women in classical garb holding palm fronds. This imagery, a symbol of victory, may allude to the triumph of the Persian Jews over their enemy Haman. Yet another visual reference conveying the notion of victory is that of the portals themselves. Scholarly research has suggested that the portal imagery is derived from contemporary triumphal arches, and it is likely that Italia’s designs were specifically influenced by the ceremonial arches and theater stages erected in honor of the arrival of Marie de’ Medici (1575-1642), the French queen mother, in Amsterdam in 1638. A series of landscape scenes serve as pedestals for the figures of the Purim story and are placed in cartouches above the text. The entire decorative program of this scroll is executed in a superb fashion, with careful attention to detail and minute imagery combined to splendid effect.
This scroll is an exquisite example of the marriage of fashionable artistic motifs with a traditional Jewish text and attests to the creativity of an unparalleled seventeenth-century artist.
Literature
Sharon Assaf and Emily D. Bilski, Salom Italia’s Esther Scrolls and the Dutch Golden Age (Amsterdam: Menasseh ben Israel Instituut; Joods Historisch Museum, 2011), 30 (fig. 3).
Norman L. Kleeblatt and Vivian B. Mann, Treasures of the Jewish Museum (New York: Universe Books, 1986), 64-65.
Mordecai Narkiss, “Yetsurato shel shalom b[en] k[evod] m[oreinu] r[av] mordekhai italia (1619-1655?),” Tarbiz 25,4 (Tammuz 1956): 441-451, at p. 447 (no. 5); 26,1 (Tishrei 1956): 87-101.