Hebrew inscriptions in European art of the 15th-18th

centuries– a sign of erudition

by Linda-Saskia Menczel

Abstract:
The use of Hebrew inscriptions embedded in Christian-themed works of art arose
due to the interest of Judaism in Western Europe brought by the flourishing of humanism.
Although most artists did not have the necessary knowledge to write a Hebrew text and used
varying degrees of pseudo-Hebrew inscriptions, there were still artists who learned to copy
the Hebrew alphabet correctly, some of them inserting complex texts, biblical quotes,
complementary or cryptic references in their works, in order to enhance the public
experience with the work of art. Sponsors often requested the insertion of Hebrew phrases
or quotations in works of art to display their erudition to their entourage. If the subject of the
work of art was to be praised for his erudition, one of the elements of the compositional
portrait sometimes contained a Hebrew inscription. But there were also artists concerned
with deepening biblical themes who used Hebrew inscriptions in painting, sculpture, or
graphics, displaying both their mastery and knowledge of the Hebrew language, the holy
language.

Key Words:

Visual Arts, Inscriptions, Hebrew, Christian Hebraism, Humanism, Renaissance,

Scholarship, Christian Art, Rembrandt, Poussin, Dȕrer, Sangallo, Rubens, Pico della
Mirandola Sacellum Mirabile
 Mene Mene Teke Ufarsin, (counted, weighed, divided). These are the words of the
cryptic text that Rembrandt van Rijn writes in Hebrew characters in his painting, The Feast
of Balthazar or, more precisely, Beltshtzar executed between 1635-1638. The bright Hebrew
letters appear written by a mystical hand that emerged from a dark cloud, reminiscent of the
Kabbalistic Ayn Sof or the cloud of unknowing with which divinity is likened in an
anonymous text of fifteenth-century Christian mysticism. The biblical episode in the book
of Daniel describes the manifestation of the text on the wall of the Babylonian king as he
desecrates the spoils of war: the holy vessels of the Temple in Jerusalem, brought by his
father, Nebuchadnezzar. The letters can only be deciphered by the prophet Daniel, speaker
of Aramaic / Hebrew and holder of the cipher with which to unravel the message of the
inscription. These words are not written from right to left, on a horizontal register, as required
by the Hebrew language, but on vertical columns, as described by Rashi in a Talmudic
commentary (Sanhedrin 22a).1

Fig.1 Van Rijn Rembrandt Harnezoon, Balthazar's Feast, oil on canvas, circa 1635-1638,

167.6 cm x 209.2 cm, National Gallery, London

 Rembrandt's access to Jewish culture is well documented, but we do not know how
well he knew the Hebrew language or whether he knew it at all, but we can deduce from his
biography that the artist was helped by Jewish collaborators and Jewish texts to which he
had access. According to the renowned art historian Shalom Sabar, the layout of the letters
in Balthazar's Feast is identical to that published in De termino Vitae in 1639 by Rabbi
Samuel Menasseh Ben Israel, a book written for Christians at their request, which discusses
the action of providence in the legtht of human years, but which was published after the
painting of the Flemish master.2. How could Rembrandt know about this text if his painting
was created before the publication of Rabbi Manasseh's book? The answer lies in the
connection between Rembrandt and the great rabbi, which commences between the two
when the Flemish artist portrays him in 1636. Their connection continues, because in 1655
Rembrandt created a series of four engravings for
Menasseh's book Piedra Gloriosa, proof that an
intellectual communion was established between the
two, which generated the disposition of the inscription
in the Feast of Balthazar.3
The collaboration between an artist and a
Jewish scholar or a Hebraist is a fruit of humanism and
especially of Christian Hebraism which flourished in
Renaissance Europe. With the expulsion of the Jews
Fig.2 Reproduction from the manuscript
of Menasseh Ben Israel De Termino
from the Iberian Peninsula, they settled in a hostile
Vitae, from 1639 with the arrangement of but intellectually fertile Europe, with mystical quests
the letters in Daniel 5:25
and an attraction for discovering the mysteries
encoded in the original language, Hebrew. Thus, the Jews were sought by Christian scholars
to learn from the knowledge of Kabbalah, to deepen the search for the origin of the cosmos
and its intricate mechanism, depicted in Jewish mystical texts such as Sefer Yetsira, the
Zohar or The Bahir4. The fascination for this study of the Jewish heritage gained momentum,
giving rise to chairs of Hebraism in the great European universities of the Renaissance.
Knowing Hebrew alongside Greek and Latin has become a must for any intellectual. Pico
della Mirandola in his 900 theses points out: “There is no science that can assure us about
the divinity of Christ more than magic and Kabbalah”5 The great Hebraist Johannes Reuchlin
published two Hebraisms books: De Arte Cabalistica (1517) and De verbo Mirifico (1561)
in which he set out the basics of Kabbalah, being convinced that Hebrew is the language in
which God makes his mysteries known and also through which angels speak to men.6
 Knowledge of the Hebrew language, or at least familiarity with the Hebrew alphabet,
conferred a special status in academic or high society circles from the 15th century onwards.
It is no wonder, then, that this interest spilled over into the art world, both in painting,
sculpture or graphics and in the decorative arts. Artists could display their erudition
alongside artistic mastery, by including letters, quotes, or complex and original texts written
in Hebrew in their works.
The vast majority of Hebrew writings fall into the category of pseudo-inscriptions,
with artists wanting to reproduce Hebrew letters but without having a model or collaborator.
These inscriptions are made up of brushstrokes, lines, dots or abstract shapes that resemble
the rhythm of a language, interpreted as Hebrew in the eyes of viewers who would not have
recognized the letters of the alefbet7. Examples of the pseudo-Hebrew writing are found in
biblical themes from both the Old Testament and the New Testament, when the character
portrayed is of Jewish origin, a prophet, a Pharisee, or even the Virgin Mary. Most pseudo-
Hebrew inscriptions are found on the clothes of the characters, especially on the rims of the
clothes, being often confused with decorative embroidery. The level of knowledge of the
Hebrew alphabet by artists was generally non-existent, but some of these pseudo inscriptions
were sometimes inspired by Hebrew letters, but not copied carefully enough. In some cases,
the same artist used correct inscriptions in one work and incorrect ones in another, such as
Vittore Carpaccio (1465-1520) or JanVan Eyck (1390-1441). On the other hand, we also
find a major interest not only in the correct rendering of the letters and in the exact
knowledge of significant biblical quotations, but also in a deep theological scholarship that
generates original texts such as in the paintings of Phillipe de Champaigne (1602-1674) or
Michiel Coxie (1602-1674) Antoon. Van Dyck (1599-1641) and Peter Paul Rubens (1577-
1640) go even further, writing the Hebrew text in the original Aramaic on the titulus crucis8,
which was the language spoken by most Jews in the first century.
The more correct and well thought out the Hebrew inscription, the greater the
intellectual value of the artist and the sponsor. Most of the time the sponsor and not the artist
was the source of the Hebrew inscriptions, being the final beneficiary of the work of art with
which he could boast in front of his friends and competitors.
One of the most revealing collaborations between the sponsor and the artist is in the
chapel of the castle of Bastie d'Urfé in Saint-Étienne-le-Molard in France and which was
recently the subject of an international study led by Elena Bugini9 after a long process of
restoration and recovery of the painting and inlay elements dispersed in time by the
subsequent administrators of the place.

Fig.3 overview, the chapel of the castle Bastie d'Urfé, detail

The 11 paintings surrounding the chapel are signed by the painter Girolamo
Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521-1580) and are created in collaboration with their sponsor
Claude d'Urfé (1501-1558), the heir to the castle, scholar and Hebraist, with a broad vision
of the two Testaments. The chapel is dedicated to the holy Eucharist and presents numerous
references to the mystery of communion both through painted scenes and the accompanying
texts. The scenes from the New and Old Testaments are joined by quotations from other
biblical pericopes than those represented pictorially, revealing texts, with deep theological
meanings.
For example, in the scene of Abraham's Sacrifice (Genesis: 22: 1-13), the
Hebrew text is: " the just shall live by his faith" from Habakkuk 2: 4., and above the
scene of the Annunciation (Luke 1: 28-38) are two Old Testament inscriptions:
"Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly" from Psalm 138: 6, and
"before honor is humility" from Proverbs 18:12.10
The sponsor took into account the fact that most visitors did not know how to decipher
the Hebrew text, and in order to facilitate the reading of the image-text binomial, he inserted
the verse references of the quotations written in Latin letters. This pictorial ensemble that
includes the related Hebrew texts is one of the most obvious examples for a display of erudition
in the environment of high society in the seventeenth century France. The fame of the chapel
generated both the nickname of Sacellum Mirabile (amazing chapel) and later reproductions
meant to immortalize the spectacular chapel.11
 Fig.4 Siciolante da Sermoneta Girolamo Sacrifice of
Abraham, 1549, oil on canvas, 172 cm x 129cm, The
scene is from Genesis 22: 11-12, but the inscription
is from Habakkuk 2: 4 the just shall live by his faith"
Fig.5 Siciolante da Sermoneta Gerolamo
Melchițedek offers God bread and wine
1549, oil on canvas, 172 cm x 129cm
The scene is from Genesis 4:18 but the
inscription is from Proverbs 9: 5 Come, eat
of my bread, and drink of the wine which I
have mingled.

A second category of works of art in which the Hebrew language appears as a sign
of erudition is the one in which the rendered character is shown as having special scholarly
merits. One way to emphasize the subject's erudition was to include a Hebrew text on a book
or manuscript next to or held in the subject's hands. One of the best-known examples is the
engraving of Albrecht Dȕrer (1471-1528) depicting the great scholar and saint of the
Christian church Jerome. Saint Jerome (c.342 / 347-420) is depicted in his intimate
environment, surrounded by books, one of which contains a Hebrew text. The inscription is
an approximate copy of the first verse of Genesis: "In the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth", Jerome being responsible for translating the Bible into Latin, taking as source
 material the original Hebrew text and not just
the Greek Septuagint, being one of the first
Christians to give special value to the
Hebrew language and the original text.
Another example is the portrait of
Aristotle engraved by the German graphic
artist Melchior Lorch (1527-1583) from
1561, which he titled the Sublime Light of
Nature. The artist inserted an inscription in
Greek, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew, but the
Hebrew is actually a transliteration of the
Greek: Aristotle Stagirites Philosophus.12 A
more complex approach is taken by the
portraits of Guillame Postel (1510-1581), a
French scholar known for his mastery of
Kabbalah, astronomy, theology and
linguistics. The portraits depicting him
created by graphic artists André de Thevet
(1516-1590), Léonard Gaultier (1561-1641),
or Esme de Boulonois (1645-1681) contain
complex Hebrew texts that are a laudatio of
Postel's erudition. Such inscriptions are also
found in portraits of the nobility in which the
appearance of the Tetragrammaton above the
Fig 6 Albrecht Durer, St. Jerome, Woodcut 1492 190 subject's head is meant to ensure the
x 133 mm, Kupferstichkabinett, Öffentliche
Kunstsammlung, Basel protection, divine inspiration and intellectual
superiority of the subject, without these
attributes being necessarily meritorious.
The third type of erudition that uses Hebrew inscriptions is that of the artist. There
are many cases in which humanist artists have had complementary interests to those related
to their profession. These interests were not always tangential with their art, as is the case of
Leonardo Da Vinci, an emblem of Renaissance humanism, whose body of knowledge
transcended the artistic realm, but most of the time collateral studies increased the artistic
product either by anatomical of natural studies, or as far as we are concerned, by learning to
write the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Fig 7 Poussin Nicolas, Repentance, oil on canvas, 178cm x 117cm, 1647, full and detail, in the
collection of the Duke of Sutherland, borrowed from the Bridgewater collection at the National Galleries of
Scotland, Edinburgh image published with the generous consent of the owner

Nicolas Poussin also known as the philosopher painter13 went a step further,
studying a Hebrew Bible to learn the correct scripture, and then changing the text on the
head garments of the Pharisees in his Repentance painting from "Mine eyes are ever toward
the LORD" (Psalm 25:15), into “My eyes are always on the letter of the Law / Law of the
Lord's Torah”14.
The theological implications of changing the text of the psalms are related to
Poussin's theological culture but also to the environment in which he worked, in which
Judaism was seen as the source of Christianity which is at the same time blind to the real
identity of Jesus.
Like Claude d'Urfé, Poussin combines the essence of the mystery with a biblical
episode, rendering the mystery of repentance through a scene from the Gospel of Luke 7:
36-39 that at first sight has nothing to do with the subject. But "ostentatious erudition" as
Richard Neer describes it15 which the French displays, has a deep meaning. The scene of the
banquet in the house of Simon the
Pharisee depicts the sinful woman
who washes Christ's feet with her
tears and wipes them with her hair,
she sees in the Nazarene what the
Pharisees cannot. The Mystery of
Repentance, one of the seven
mysteries of Christianity, is
delicately hidden in the left margin of
the painting where you must "have
eyes to see."
Another way to highlight
the artist's erudition is his signature
in Hebrew as is the case of Lorenzo
Costa (1460-1535) in St. Sebastian
from 1480-85 who almost hides his
signature at the feet of the saint16 or
Marco Palmezzano (1458-1539) who
Fig.8 Sangallo, Franceso da, (1494-1576), The Virgin and ostentatiously signs his transliterated
Child Anne, 1526, marble, Orsanmichele Church, Florence
name into Hebrew on a horizontal band
under the Carrying of the Cross and the Holy Family with St. John the Baptist.17
But one way to please both the artist, the sponsor and the cultured audience was
transliteration. Of the Hebrew connoisseurs among the European Christian milieu, most
could recognize the letters, but could not read a Hebrew text. For this category, a Latin text
known as the apostolic creed18, written in Hebrew letters, could be deciphered with
intellectual delight. This is the case of the Marriage of the Virgin from 1463 by the Master
of Mary's Life at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, which has as its central element the Latin
creed in Hebrew letters.19.
 Another example is the sculpture The Virgin and Child and St. Anne, by Francesco
Sangallo (1494-1576), which inscribes three Latin phrases written in Hebrew letters: On the
cleavage of St. Anne: ‫ מאטיר מאטריס דיאי‬Mater Matris Dei (Mother of God). On the cleavage
of Jesus' garment: ‫ קריסתוס פיליאוס דיאי ויוי‬Christus Filius Dei vivi (Christ the Son of the living
God) The inscription on the pedestal of the sculpture is: ‫ איגו סום לוקס מונדי‬Ego Sum Lux
Mundi (I am the Light of the World) John 8:12 si 9:5.

Conclusions:
When we think of the occurrence of inscriptions in European Christian works of art,
the first thought does not lead us to the Hebrew language. The volume of these inscriptions
is unsuspected even by researchers in the visual arts. The variety of their quality, from
cuneiform signs meant to resemble Hebrew letters, to complex and original texts, depended
both on the artist's training and his openness to the study of language or at least individual
letters, and on the sponsor of the work that was often behind these inscriptions that he either
designed himself or found a translator to have them inscribed in a correct form.
Hebrew inscriptions often tend to mark the historical, social, and theological context
in which Christianity was born, as well as a wide range of attitudes of the artist or sponsor
towards Judaism, from open contempt for Hebrew culture, to admiration for the people
holding divine mysteries. Sometimes, however, the inscriptions had a pedagogical purpose,
especially to attract new converts and to visually illustrate what most viewers could not yet
read. At the same time, Hebrew inscriptions in the visual arts are a form of displaying or
mimicking real culture and erudition and have of course been a colorful subject of discussion
in high society salons.
The phenomenon of Hebrew inscriptions in art was not long lasting, but the idea of
theoretical study prior to the realization of the work of art, added meaning, with responsible
messages and the return of the artist to the role of educator, prove worthy of serving as a
model for current and future generations of visual artists.
Notes:

1
Rashi: the acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki (1040 / 41-1105) one of the most
important exegetes of the Bible and scholars of the Middle Ages. The text of the Talmud
also specifies the characters in which the inscription (Ashurit script in Aramaic) appeared,
also used by Rembrandt, as well as their encrypted arrangement.
2
Shabar Shalom, Rembrandt from right to left, Segula, oct 2019, pp.40-53
On another occasion, it seems that Rembrandt understood the exact meaning of the
word ‫( קָ ַ֛רן‬Keren), which means both horn and ray, and, compared to Michelangelo who
sculpted the cuckolded Moses, the Dutch painter's painting depicts the prophet with his face
flooded with the light
3
Ibidem p.48
4
Sefer Yetsira - The Book of Formation, The Zohar - The Book of Splendor and
The Bahir the Book of Enlightenment, are texts of Kabbalistic mysticism printed in the late
Middle Ages, studied by Jewish and Christian Kabbalists alike.
5
Farmer S. A. Syncretism in the West: Pico's 900 Theses (1486) The Evolution of
Traditional Religious and Philosophical Systems With Text, Translation, and Commentary,
p. cm. — (Medieval & Renaissance texts & studies; v. 167) ISBN 0-86698-209-4, Tempe,
Arizona, 1998, pp. 496–97.
6
Friedman Jerome, The Most Ancient Testimony: Sixteenth-Century Christian-
Hebraica in the Age of Renaissance Nostalgia. Athens: Ohio University Press. 1983, pg73
7
The word alphabet has its origin in the name of the first two letters of the Hebrew
alphabet: alef and bet
8
Aramaic became the language of the Middle East and lasted for about 3,100 years,
with Hebrew being replaced and preserved for worship. One of his writings is the Assured
(Syriac or square) and is preserved to this day in modern Hebrew
9
Burgini Elena, Sacellum mirabile: New Studies on the Chapel of Claude d'Urfé -
With Dvd rom (Art & Société), Rennes: PURRENNES, 2019
10
All biblical quotes are from the KJV version with the appropriate verse reference.
11
The most famous paintings reproducing details of the chapels are executed by
Uberti Giuseppe between 1880-1882
12
The image of the engraving can be seen here: , http://www.museen-
nord.de/Object/DE-MUS-045414/lido/6710
13
Poussin in England: Poussin, Painter-Philosopher or Christian painter?,
CRASSH Cambridge, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tq8SxUFZ3o accesat
31.07.2020
14
Cropper E. și Dempsey C., Nicolas Poussin – Friendship and the love of painting,
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000, pp.116-17 și nota 8
15
Neer Richard, Poussins’s Unseless Trasures, în volumul “Judaism and Christian
Art” editat de H.Kessler si D.Nirenberg, pp.328-58, Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania
Press 2010, p.331
16
The painting and detail of signature can be viewed here::
http://www.censusferrarese.it/galleria/scheda.php?lang=ita&idGalleria=1021
17
The artwork can ce viewed here: : https://richardnilsen.com/2014/07/12/how-to-
look-at-a-painting-ii/; shorturl.at/hprCZ
18
The apostolic creed (the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed) is a declaration of
faith recited both during services and in private Christian worship. It differs between
Orthodox and Catholic worship.
19
The painting can be viwed here:
https://kunstbeziehung.goldecker.de/img/w/5c1b83cac44da/A_P1170342.JPG_
Bibliography:

1. ALEXANDER-KNOTTER Mirjam An Ingenious Device: Rembrandt’s Use of Hebrew

Inscriptions, Studia Rosenthaliana 33, no. 2 (1999).
2. BARASH Moshe. Hebrew Inscriptions in Renaissance Works of Art // Scritti in
memoria di Leone Carpi. Saggi sull’ebraismo italiano / eds D. Carpi, A. Milano, A. Rofe.
Jerusalem, Fondazione Sally Mayer, 1967, pp. 141‒150.
3. BARASH Moshe, Some Oriental Pseudo-Inscriptions in Renaissance Art, Visible
Language XXIII , 2/3
4. BUSI Giulio & GRECO, Silvana (eds.), The Renaissance speaks Hebrew, Silvana
Editoriale, 2019 Published to coincide with the exhibition "Renaissance speaks Hebrew,
curated by the authors, for the National Museum of Italian Judaism in Ferrara, Italy
5. BURGINI Elena, Sacellum mirabile: New Studies on the Chapel of Claude d'Urfé - With
Dvd rom (Art & Société), Rennes: editura Purrennes, 2019.
6. BURNETT Stephen G. , Reassessing the "Basel - Wittenberg Conflict": Dimensions of
the Reformation-Era, Discussion of Hebrew Scholarship, published in Hebraica Veritas:
Christian Hebraists and the Study of Judaism in Early Modern Europe, editat de Coudert,
Allison P. și Shoulson, Jeffrey S., Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
pp .181–201
7. CHECHNIK Liya, Ancient Jewish Inscriptions in Venetian Religious Painting of
Renaissance, Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of articles. – St.
Petersburg: NP-Print, 2013. – Vol. 3. / eds. S.V. Maltseva, E.Yu. Sanyukovich-Denisova
8. CROPPER E. și DEMPSEY C., Nicolas Poussin – Friendship and the love of painting,
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
9. ECO Umberto The Search for the Perfect Language (The Making of Europe), Hoboken:
Blackwell publishing, 1997
10. FARMER S. A. Syncretism in the West: Pico's 900 Theses (1486) The Evolution of
Traditional Religious and Philosophical Systems With Text, Translation, and Commentary,
p. cm. — (Medieval & Renaissance texts & studies ; v. 167 ) ISBN 0-86698-209-4,
Tempe, Arizona, 1998.
11. FRIEDMAN Jerome, The Most Ancient Testimony: Sixteenth-Century Christian-
Hebraica in the Age of Renaissance Nostalgia. Athens: Ohio University Press. 1983
12. KESSLER H.L și NIRENBERG D. Judaism and Christian Art , Aesthetic Anxieties
from catacombs to Colonialism, Philadelphia, Oxford: University of Pennsylvania Press,
2011.
13. MACIEJKO Paweł, A Portrait of the Kabbalist as a YoungMan: Count Joseph Carl
Emmanuel Waldstein and His Retinue, THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW, Vol. 106,
No. 4 (Fall 2016)
14. MELLINKOFF, Ruth. 1993. Outcasts: Signs of otherness in northern European art of
the late middle ages. 2 vols. Berkeley: University of California Press.
15. NADLER Steven, Rembrandt’s Jews, University of Chicago Press, 2003
176 NAGEL Alexander.,Twenty-Five Notes on Pseudoscript in Italian Art în Res:
Anthropology and Aesthetics 59–60 (2011).
17. NEER Richard, Poussins’s Unseless Trasures, in “Judaism and Christian Art” edited
by H.Kessler and D. Nirenberg, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2010,
pp.328-58.
18. REUCHLIN Johann, On the Art of the Kabbalah, De Arte Cabalistica, Translation by
Martin and Sarah Goodman, introduction by Lloyd Jones and introductionto the Bison
Book edition, by Moshe Idel, University of Nebraska Press, 1993.
19. SABAR Șalom, Rembrandt from right to left, Segula, nr. 49, October 2019
 20. SARFATTI Gad B., Hebrew Script in Western Visual Arts, Italia: Studi e
ricerche sulla storia, la cultura e la letteratura degli Ebrei d’Italia 13–15, The
Hebrew University Magnes Press, Jerusalem (2001): 451–547

Webography:

1. Poussin in England: Poussin, Painter-Philosopher or Christian painter, CRASSH

Cambridge, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tq8SxUFZ3o accessed
31.07.2020
2. Schwarts Gary, Pseudo-semitism, http://www.garyschwartzarthistorian.nl/309-
pseudo-semitism/, accesat 13.10.2019.
3. https://patrimoine.auvergnerhonealpes.fr/dossier/ensemble-des-deux-tableaux-de-l-
oratoire-de-la-chapelle-l-esprit-fecondant-les-eaux-l-annonciation/1b611b37-fcc3-
4000-bc17-85fb375b019e, accesat 20.03.2020

List of illustrations:

Fig.1 Van Rijn Rembrandt Harnezoon, Balthazar's feast, oil on canvas, circa 1635-1638,
167.6 cm x 209.2 cm, National Gallery, London,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belshazzar%27s_Feast_(Rembrandt)#/media/File:Rem
brandt-Belsazar.jpg, accessed on 20.07.2020
Fig.1 Reproduction after Menasseh Ben Israel’s De Termino Vitae, from1639 in which the
arrangement of the letters appears as in Rembrandt's painting, source: Shalom Sabar,
Rembrandt from right to left, Segula, nr. 49 (October 2019): 40-53
Fig.3 overview, the chapel of the castle Bastie d'Urfé
https://www.transitions.uliege.be/cms/c_4219319/fr/transitions-realisations-en-3d,
accessed 22.05.2020
Fig.4 Siciolante da Sermoneta Girolamo Abraham's Sacrifice, 1549, oil on canvas, 172 cm
x 129cm, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47743334 accessed
22.02.2020
Fig.5 Siciolante da Sermoneta Gerolamo Melchizedek offers to God bread and wine 1549,
oil on canvas 172 cm x 129cm,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bastie_d%27Urf%C3%A9-
Offrande_de_Melchis%C3%A9dech-20160316.jpg#/media/File:Bastie_d'Urfé-
Offrande_de_Melchisédech-20160316.jpg, accessed 22.02.2020
Fig.6 Durer Albrecht, Sfântul Jerome, 1492, Woodcut, 190 x 133 mm, location:
Kupferstichkabinett, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel,
https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/d/durer/2/12/1_1500/02jerome.html
accessed 07.02.2020
Fig.7 Poussin Nicolas, Repentance, oil on canvas, 178cm x 117cm, 1647, full and detail
reproductions permitted by the Duke of Sutherland, Bridgewater Collection Loan,
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Fig.8 Sangallo, Franceso da, (1494-1576),The Virgin and Child and St. Anne, 1526,
marble, Orsanmichele Church, Florence
http://www.catalogo.beniculturali.it/images/fullsize/ICCD1031843/ICCD11765087_
SSPSAEPM%20FI%2024381.jpg accessed 12.06.2020