The Interconnection Between Images and Texts. The Analysis of Four Masoretic Illustrations in MS Vat. ebr. 14 and Their Intertwined Relations

Rost, Hanna-Barbara

Abstract

The manuscript MS Vat. ebr. 14, written 1239 in Rouen by Eliyya ha-Naqdan, exemplifies the close interconnection between masoretical annotations and the illustrative programme. By selecting four out of numerous illustrations in MS Vat. ebr. 14, I would like to show the multi-layered connections between Masora and motif and their function. In this way, the figurative version of the Masora represents not only mere accessory of the biblical Obertext, but offers, in combination with the Masora used, further options of interpretation of text and image. Thus, the cycle illustrating the Flood as well as the architectural illustration of the construction of the Tabernacle represent Eliyya’s manifold references to the Temple. At the same time, we can clearly see his creative handling of the masoretical material, the recourse to commentary literature by means of pictures and finally, the opportunity of interpretations of the biblical text, the Masora and the illustration that go far beyond the biblical Obertext and the masoretical text itself.