One of the finest illuminated Hebrew manuscripts ever created will be displayed at
The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning October 1. The rare
15th-century handwritten copy of the Mishneh Torah by the renowned
medieval scholar Moses Maimonides will be shown in New York for the
first time since it was acquired jointly by the Metropolitan Museum and
the Israel Museum in Jerusalem in April. Previously in the collection of
Judy and Michael Steinhardt, New York, the manuscript will be exhibited
at the two museums on a rotating basis. At the Metropolitan, the work
will be installed in The Lawrence A. and Barbara Fleischman Gallery of
Late Medieval Secular Art (Gallery 307) among other 15th-century works
from Europe that will provide a contextual background. The Mishneh
Torah will remain at the Metropolitan through January 5, 2014.

Created in Northern Italy around 1457, the beautifully illustrated Hebrew
text includes the eight final books of the Mishneh Torah, or
“Repetition of the Law,” the first systematic collection of
Jewish law. Compiled between 1170 and 1180 by the renowned rabbi,
physician, and philosopher Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), the
Mishneh Torah is organized by subject matter. The manuscript is richly
illuminated, with six large painted panels decorated in precious
pigments and gold leaf, and 41 smaller illustrations with gold lettering
adorning the opening words of each chapter. The colorful and lively
illuminations, along with the manuscript’s liberal use of gold and
its elegant script, make it one of the finest extant illuminated copies
of the Mishneh Torah. The artist who created it is known as the
“Master of the Barbo Missal,” after a missal he created for
Marco Barbo, Bishop of Treviso. In addition to his work on this
manuscript, he collaborated on some of the most important book
commissions of the day, including the Bible of Borso d’Este, Duke
of Ferrara. This Mishneh Torahis his only known work for a Jewish patron.

With no iconographic precedent to guide him, the artist was
inspired by the world around him; figures in contemporary costume appear
as on a stage, enlivening the pages of the manuscript and elucidating
the text. The manuscript will be open to an illustration in the Sefer
Shoftim, or “Book of Judges,” in which an accused man under
close guard stands before a bench of judges assembled in a lush, outdoor
court. The golden word “Shoftim” (Judges) seems to hang
before a curtain of blue, as knights joust above.

The manuscript comprises Books VII-XIV of Maimonides’ text. (The first five books
are preserved in a separate volume in the Vatican Library.) Sometimes
referred to as the “Frankfurt Mishneh Torah,” the volume
exhibited in New York had reached Germany as part of the collection of
Avraham Merzbacher of Munich in the 19th century; it was later in the
collection of Edmond de Rothschild, who presented it to the Frankfurt
Municipal Library. In 1950, a Jewish family from Frankfurt acquired the
manuscript, along with seven others, in exchange for property that the
city wished to develop. It remained in the family until its 2007
purchase by Judy and Michael Steinhardt, New York.

Prior to its presentation at the Metropolitan, the manuscript underwent
restoration at the Israel Museum, where it has been on long-term loan
since 2007 and on view to the public since 2010.

The Mishneh Torah was purchased for The Israel Museum
through the generosity of an anonymous donor; René and
Susanne Braginsky, Zurich; Renée and Lester Crown, Chicago; Schusterman
Foundation – Israel; and Judy and Michael Steinhardt, New York.
The Mishneh Torah was purchased for The Metropolitan Museum of Art with
Director’s Funds and Judy and Michael Steinhardt Gift.

Also on view at the Metropolitan during the same time period will be a second
Mishneh Torah. On loan from the Jewish Theological Seminary, this
handsome volume affords visitors the opportunity to see a different
artistic response to Maimonides’ work. It was realized in tempera
and ink on parchment between 1300 and 1400 in Germany. More sober and
restrained in its decoration, this large-scale copy of the Mishneh
Torah is noteworthy for its precisely ruled and brightly colored
drawings. While on display in the Medieval Europe Gallery (Gallery 304),

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