The roots of the tradition of Jewish Baroque manuscripts are to be found in the Bohemian-Moravian-Hungarian region. From thence the tradition passes through Vienna, Hamburg-Altona and into the Rhineland.
The earliest workshop was possibly in Leipnik, Moravia
Several possible reasons for the development of such a tradition: 1) as the Jewish religion includes hand written documents, such as the Torah Rolls, the profession of the scribe continues to live on after the invention of book printing. Torah scribes search for further sources of income; 2) economic upswing of Jewish families after the Spanish war of Succession and the Seven Year War.
Workshop in Trebitsch with old tradition: Arye Judah Loebh Kahane was from Trebitsch, worked in Vienna and later in Bavaria
Siddur for Simon Wolf, son of Daniel Oppenheim (Bodleian Mic. 9340)
Siddur for an unknown commissioner in Vienna (about 1720, BL, Add. 17867) with text expressing the hope that Emperor Karl VI will bring the Israelites to safety. This text is accompanied by a selection of Biblical scenes, whose iconography is borrowed from printed Hebrew books
Siddur from 1720
Prayer book from 1730 (Braunschweig Landesmuseum)
Moshe ben Wolf from Trebitsch and active in Trebitsch. Moshe left several Haggadot, which confer some of the Amsterdam Haggadah iconography to the medium of painting.
Haggadah from 1716/17
Van Geldern Haggadah, 1723 for the court Jew Eliezer ben Josef from Düsseldorf (Lazarus van Geldern)
Haggadah in Cincinnati (HUC MS 441), 1717 – with a representation of a Seder table reminiscent of the style of panel painting
Meshullam Zemel active in Vienna
Haggadah from 1719 for Nathan, Son of Isaac Oppenheim from Vienna (NNL 805573)
Shabbat prayer book (Bodl. Mich 4259) for a son-in-law of Isaac Oppenheim with a Kabbalistic Shabbat ritual. The tinted pen drawings are influenced by copper engravings.
Shabbat Order (BL Add. 8881): Illustration of several realia, borrowed from upper-class Christian society.
Dedication pages for the imperial couple (1732 and 1733, ÖNB cod. Hebr. 233, 234)
Aaron Wolf Schreiber Herlingen from Gewitsch, Moravia, active in Vienna
Birqat mazon from 1724 (NY ?, 8232) with several blessings for various holy days and everyday situations.
Haggadah from 1728 (Sotheby catalogue, Tel Aviv 1.10. 1991)
Collection of Psalms from 1735 (Frankfurt/Main, Stadtbibliothek, Ms hebr. Oct 14)
Latin Psalter for an archduke 1739.
Washed pen and ink drawings from a Haggadah 1749–52 (NY Mic. 4477) – strong conformity with the Amsterdam Haggadahh (in the iconography, as well as in the attempt to imitate the copper engraving technique)
Birqat hamazon from 1728 (Copenhagen, hebr. 32) from Nikolsburg, seat of the country Rabbi from Moravia
Micrography: Micrographic representation of Maria Theresia (lost); micrographic version of the five Megillot (1733–48)
Nathan ben Shimshon from Meseritz, active ca. 1720-1740
Passover Haggadot according to the model of the Amsterdam Haggadah (Jerusalem, NNL, cod. 2237)
Psalter with pen and ink drawings (Jerusalem, NNL, cod. 80987
Hayim ben Asher Anshel, Kittsee, Pressburg and Wien, active between 1741 und 1782, mainly in in Kittsee. Most of the manuscripts merely contain flower ornaments in the Rococo style.
Passover Haggadah from 1748 (Jerusalem, Israel Museum, cod. 181/53): Copy of the Amsterdam copper engravings with some motifs from the Venetian wood cuts Haggadah.
Josef ben David from Leipnik, Moravia: during the first half of the 18th century traceable in several places, finally settles in Altona. Figurative representations, reflecting the taste of the Baroque culture: Haggadah of Moses Freudenberg (New York, JTS Mic 446) from 1732; Haggadah from Darmstadt (New York, JTS Mic 8253) from 1733; Haggadah from Altona (Amsterdam, Rosenthaliana, MS 383) from 1738.
(Translator: Joan Avery)
The Corresponding illustrations, selected by the Center of Jewish Art (Hebrew University, Jerusalem), can be found here: http://phaidra.univie.ac.at/detail_object/o:525994
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