The iconography and ubiquity of Judaism in Renaissance art

This important book recounts an extraordinary intellectual history: the active participation of the Jews, who have lived in Italy since Roman times, in the Renaissance.

Documenting an age of artistic turmoil and the factions of the city-states, The Renaissance Speaks Hebrew brings together some of the masterpieces of art in which the Hebrew language occupies a central place and Judaism is a source of inspiration and a symbol of wisdom. These include the works of Mantegna, Carpaccio, Mazzolino and Sassetta.

Alongside these encounters and mutual influences, the essays in this volume explore conflicts, controversies and discrimination, making the claim that there is no Italian Renaissance without Judaism and no Italian Jewry without the Renaissance.