The Italian Renaissance, the Jews, and the Arts: 'Renaissance Christian Art Meets the Hebrew Language'

Led by Daniel Stein Kokin (ASU)

About the lecture: Numerous paintings in Italian Renaissance art feature Hebrew letters or words, whether real or imagined. In this lecture, we will investigate how the presence of the holy tongue impacts our interpretation of these works by observing the use of Hebrew as mere adornment, the presence of Hebrew script on “titles of the cross,” and the quotation of biblical verses in Hebrew. 

About the series: As the arts (visual, sculpture and theater) flourished across fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy, how did they intersect with the Jews who inhabited the region and with Jewish themes more broadly? The series explores this question from the vantage points of language, lore and literature.