La danse de Miryam

Abstract

Biblical illustration in Late Antiquity was characterized by illustrating the text episode by episode, as well as by embellishing the narration with elements rooted in Jewish legend. Such detailed illustration is known to us today from Christian landmarks and manuscripts. These traditions were passed on in a way difficult to trace, and survived until the Middle Ages. Some of these elements also appear in the fourteenth-century Haggadot Biblical cycles in Spain. However, a comparison image by image between the Haggadot cycles and those on the Christian landmarks shows that it could not possibly have been the Christian that served as a model for the Jewish ones. The Haggadot Biblical illustrations probably derive from traditions originating in Jewish milieux around the year 200, and these were transmitted through Jewish communities, perhaps in Southern Italy or North Africa, to the artists of the Iberian peninsula in the fourteenth century. It is probably through a parallel line of transmission that certain elements of this tradition came down to the Christian artists whose works permit a partial reconstruction of the original ancient tradition.