Real and Fictive Travels to the Holy Land as Painted in the Florence Scroll
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Rachel Sarfati
Abstract
This essay introduces a little-known manuscript, which I have named the ‘Florence Scroll’. Illustrating a pilgrimage from Egypt to the mountains of Lebanon, this exceptionally long scroll (10.7 m) depicts images of holy places along that route. Each image is accompanied by a name in Hebrew and sometimes by a short text. I show that the scroll was painted during the second decade of the fourteenth century and the painter was from Egypt. I deal here with the first part of the scroll, which depicts locations in Egypt, Sinai, and Transjordan. One of the basic assumptions is that in part the Florence Scroll is a record of a real-life journey of its creator. However, research and an analysis of the work suggest that similar to other Jewish pilgrims at the time, he did not actually visit any of the included sites in Sinai. Thus my discussion focuses on why these sites appear in the scroll. My conclusion suggests that the addition of these locations in Sinai may have a symbolic meaning in that it juxtaposes the illustrator’s journey and the biblical story of the Exodus.
Abstract
This essay introduces a little-known manuscript, which I have named the ‘Florence Scroll’. Illustrating a pilgrimage from Egypt to the mountains of Lebanon, this exceptionally long scroll (10.7 m) depicts images of holy places along that route. Each image is accompanied by a name in Hebrew and sometimes by a short text. I show that the scroll was painted during the second decade of the fourteenth century and the painter was from Egypt. I deal here with the first part of the scroll, which depicts locations in Egypt, Sinai, and Transjordan. One of the basic assumptions is that in part the Florence Scroll is a record of a real-life journey of its creator. However, research and an analysis of the work suggest that similar to other Jewish pilgrims at the time, he did not actually visit any of the included sites in Sinai. Thus my discussion focuses on why these sites appear in the scroll. My conclusion suggests that the addition of these locations in Sinai may have a symbolic meaning in that it juxtaposes the illustrator’s journey and the biblical story of the Exodus.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Notes on Contributors VII
- Maps and Travel: An Introduction 1
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Part I: Historical Space
- Traveling the Mappa Mundi: Readerly Transport from Cassiodorus to Petrarch 17
- The Bestiary on the Hereford World Map (c. 1300) 37
- Cultural Landscape in Christian and Jewish Maps of the Holy Land 74
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Part II: Use and Reception
- Winds and Continents: Concepts for Structuring the World and Its Parts 91
- Fictive Travel and Mapmaking in Fourteenth-Century Iberia 136
- Les cartes marines comme source de réflexion géographique au XVe siècle 165
- Around the World: Borders and Frames in Two Sixteenth-Century Norman Map Books 189
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Part III: Travel into Sacred Spaces
- The Travels of the Rabbis and the Rabbinic Horizons of the Inhabited World 221
- Real and Fictive Travels to the Holy Land as Painted in the Florence Scroll 232
- Between Nazareth and Loreto: The Role of the Stone Bricks in Caravaggio’s ‘Madonna di Loreto’ 252
- Sacred Topographies and the Optics of Truth: Vasilij Grigorovich Barskij’s Journeys to Mount Athos (1725–1744) 281
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Part IV: Word and Images
- Antwerp Civic Self-Portraits 315
- Fra Niccolò Guidalotto’s City View, Nautical Atlas and Book of Memories: Cartography and Propaganda between Venice and Constantinople 342
- How to Represent the New World When One Is Not Andrea Mantegna: Sovereigns in the Americas on Sixteenth-Century Maps 363
- Index of Toponyms and Locations 383
- Index of Historical, Religious and Mythological Figures 395
- Index of Modern Authors 403
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Notes on Contributors VII
- Maps and Travel: An Introduction 1
-
Part I: Historical Space
- Traveling the Mappa Mundi: Readerly Transport from Cassiodorus to Petrarch 17
- The Bestiary on the Hereford World Map (c. 1300) 37
- Cultural Landscape in Christian and Jewish Maps of the Holy Land 74
-
Part II: Use and Reception
- Winds and Continents: Concepts for Structuring the World and Its Parts 91
- Fictive Travel and Mapmaking in Fourteenth-Century Iberia 136
- Les cartes marines comme source de réflexion géographique au XVe siècle 165
- Around the World: Borders and Frames in Two Sixteenth-Century Norman Map Books 189
-
Part III: Travel into Sacred Spaces
- The Travels of the Rabbis and the Rabbinic Horizons of the Inhabited World 221
- Real and Fictive Travels to the Holy Land as Painted in the Florence Scroll 232
- Between Nazareth and Loreto: The Role of the Stone Bricks in Caravaggio’s ‘Madonna di Loreto’ 252
- Sacred Topographies and the Optics of Truth: Vasilij Grigorovich Barskij’s Journeys to Mount Athos (1725–1744) 281
-
Part IV: Word and Images
- Antwerp Civic Self-Portraits 315
- Fra Niccolò Guidalotto’s City View, Nautical Atlas and Book of Memories: Cartography and Propaganda between Venice and Constantinople 342
- How to Represent the New World When One Is Not Andrea Mantegna: Sovereigns in the Americas on Sixteenth-Century Maps 363
- Index of Toponyms and Locations 383
- Index of Historical, Religious and Mythological Figures 395
- Index of Modern Authors 403
