Jewish Traditions in Christian Painting Cycles: The Vienna Genesis and the Ashburnham Pentateuch

Abstract

Influence from Jewish painting exemplars of Late Antiquity can also be traced in larger Christian painting cycles. A clear example is the 'Vienna Genesis', a manuscript probably of sixth century Syrian provenance, whose Jewish exemplars must be assumed to be significantly older. In the upper part of the picture, in a segment of blue sky, the hand of God points at Adam and Eve leaving Paradise, and at the serpent wound about the Tree of Life. In the middle of the picture, in front of the gate to Paradise is a wheel of fire, beside which an angel stands. At the right, Adam and Eve once again, are accompanied by an apparently feminine figure clothed in red, blue and yellow. The iconography of the Ashburnham or Tours Pentateuch, a late seventh century Latin Vulgate manuscript, again requires the assumption of Jewish exemplars.Keywords: Ashburnham Pentateuch; Christian painting cycles; Jewish painting; Vienna Genesis