From Word to Image: The Socio-Political Sense of the Miniatures of the Sephardic Narrative Works in the Rothschild Miscellany

Abstract

In this paper, I will analyse the edition of Mešal ha-Qadmoni ‘Fable of Antiquity’ by Yiṣḥaq ’ibn Sahula; Ben ha-Melek ve-ha-Nazir  ‘The Prince and the Monk’ by Abraham ’ibn ḥisday in the magnificent Miscellany Rothschild MS 180/51 (approx. 1470), harmoniously integrated into the instructional content of a spiritual, intellectual and social nature. It is my duty to focus on the miniatures that accompany them, highlighting their relationship with the text and the political-social context, needless to say the faithful reflection of the intercultural relationships on the background of their creation.