File:2019 Herzig.jpg

{en} Tamar Herzig. A Convert's Tale: Art, Crime, and Jewish Apostasy in Renaissance Italy. Cambridge, MA [USA]: Harvard University Press, 2019.

Abstract

"An intimate portrait, based on newly discovered archival sources, of one of the most famous Jewish artists of the Italian Renaissance who, charged with a scandalous crime, rejected his faith and converted to Catholicism. In 1491 the renowned Jewish goldsmith Salomone da Sesso converted to Catholicism. Born in the mid-fifteenth century to a Jewish family in Florence, Salomone later settled in Ferrara, where he was regarded as a virtuoso artist whose exquisite jewelry and lavishly engraved swords were prized by Italy's ruling elite. But rumors circulated about Salomone's behavior, scandalizing the Jewish community, who turned him over to the civil authorities. Charged with sodomy, Salomone was sentenced to die but agreed to renounce Judaism to save his life. He was baptized, taking the name Ercole "de' Fedeli" ("One of the Faithful"). With the help of powerful patrons like Duchess Eleonora of Aragon and Duke Ercole d'Este, his namesake, Ercole lived as a practicing Catholic for three more decades. Drawing on newly discovered archival sources, Tamar Herzig traces the dramatic story of his life, half a century before ecclesiastical authorities made Jewish conversion a priority of the Catholic Church"--

Contents

Introduction: The convert's tale -- I. The virtuoso Jew: a moneylender's son turned goldsmith -- The Jewish widow's testament -- Eleonora of Aragon's court goldsmith -- A murdered child -- Friends and foes -- II. Apostasy: A Jewish sodomite? -- Conversions: voluntary and coerced -- Princely justice and Christian piety -- Baptizing the Jews -- III. A family of converts: a haunting past -- Travels and troubles -- Cesare Borgia's "Queen of Swords" -- Anna: Lucrezia Borgia's damsel -- Sister Theodora: from Jewish girl to bride of Christ -- the family workshop: Master Ercole and his sons -- IV. Between Christians and Jews: In prison, again -- Plague and malaria -- Ferrara at war -- Glitter and grief -- Gold pawned to the Jews -- Epilogue: One of the faithful?