In Cultural Exchange: Jews, Christians, and Art in the Medieval Marketplace, Joseph Shatzmiller investigates the impact of Christian pictorial and aesthetic traditions on Jewish art in the Middle Ages. Jewish visual responses to styles, images, religious beliefs, cultural values, materials, and texts found in Christian art have previously been examined by Bianca Kühnel, Malachi Beit-Arié, Katrin Kogman-Appel, Bezalel Narkiss, Vivian Mann, and Eva Frojmovic, among others.¹ In addition, a recent exhibition, Crossing Borders: Hebrew Manuscripts as a Meeting Place of Cultures, accompanied by a scholarly catalogue edited by Piet van Boxel and Sabine Arndt, explored these themes (click here for review). Shatzmiller focuses on medieval economic conditions that enabled the transmission of Christian artistic forms to Jewish viewers. Scholars have long sought to provide frameworks for Jewish-Christian relations by describing interactions ranging from mutual influence, fascination, and interest to fear, anxiety, and violence. Shatzmiller enriches this field of relationships by exposing “instances of tolerance, of humanity, and of collaboration” (4).

The first third of the book (chapters 1–3) examines how financial necessity resulted in Christians offering sacred artistic objects as collateral to Jewish pawnbrokers. The second section (chapters 4–5) posits that this material transmission allowed for Christian art to influence Jewish imagery. The third section (chapters 6–7) documents how the marketplace brought Christian artists into contact with Jews, and, conversely, Jewish artists in touch with Christians.

Chapter 1 mines numerous archival sources (legal texts, registers of public announcements, records of court proceedings, pawnbrokers’ registers, and inventories of collateral held by moneylenders) to document that Jews operated as pawnbrokers. Chapter 2 documents Jewish possession of Christian liturgical objects obtained as collateral. Shatzmiller discusses Jewish and Christian anxieties about these material exchanges. Some rabbinic writings, such as those of Rabbi Jacob ben Meir (commonly referred to as Rabbenu Tam), forbade possession of Christian objects on the grounds that they had been contaminated by Christian idolatrous practices; Christian theologians, canon lawyers, and ecclesiastical prelates, such as Peter of Cluny or Pope Innocent III, claimed that Jews would abuse and desecrate their sacred vessels and church ornaments. However, Shatzmiller cautions the reader against interpreting these polemical texts too literally, suggesting that both Jews and Christians still participated in these financial and artistic exchanges, due in part to a rabbinic justification for retaining Christian objects as collateral. As evidence, Shatzmiller cites the writings of Rabbi Eliezer ben Nathan of Mainz, Rabbi Eliezer ben Joel ha-Levi, and Isaac of Dampierre, who argue that Christian objects do not present a danger of contamination for Jews because Christian worship practices were not exceedingly devout; thus, Christians are not considered idol worshippers as their ritual objects were not used in a truly religious context, but for pleasure or practicality. Consequently, Jews were justified in retaining possession of illuminated Latin manuscripts, altarpieces, statues of the Virgin Mary, and crosses. By contextualizing Jewish possession of Christian art with rabbinic texts that negate Christian idolatry, Shatzmiller complements Kalman Bland and Kogman-Appel’s recent work on Jewish perceptions of Christianity and idolatry.

In chapter 3, Shatzmiller documents that a princely and noble class pawned numerous lavish items including sumptuous garments, a golden broach depicting the Virgin Mary, and imperial crowns. He draws from archival sources and recent archaeological finds throughout western and central Europe. Shatzmiller also utilizes Hebrew texts to argue that pawnbroking ultimately resulted in Jewish admiration of Christian objects. For example, Immanuel ben Jacob Bonfils, a Jewish mathematician and astronomer, praised illuminations found in a Latin manuscript. In addition, Rabbi Jacob ben Moses Molen advocated that Jews adorn their homes with decorative objects, “‘even if they are pledges that belong to gentiles’” (58).

After documenting Jewish access to Christian material possessions in the first three chapters, Shatzmiller offers a case study of Christian aesthetic sensibilities influencing Jewish art. The fourth chapter examines extant frescos from about 1330, found in the home of Rabbi Moses ben Menahem of Zurich, which overtly display non-Jewish themes: courtly men and women on horses hunting and peasants festively dancing. These murals are framed by twenty-five coats of arms belonging to non-Jewish dynasties and families. Chapter 5 contextualizes the Menahem frescoes’ use of figural imagery within medieval German rejection and absorption of non-Jewish depictions of the human figure from the thirteenth through fifteenth century. Shatzmiller explains that the Jewish ambivalence toward representing the human body centers on whether painting a human face is considered an idolatrous act, which in turn depends on whether a human face is understood as a reflection of God’s face. Shatzmiller examines the writings of rabbinical authorities that fall on both sides of this debate. He also surveys Jewish works of art that express different attitudes toward figural imagery, such as Hebrew Bibles, prayer books used for special occasions (mahzorim), and Haggadahs. Producers and users circumvented prohibitions against figural imagery by rendering less fully human forms. Artists, patrons, or later owners defaced human forms, often by erasing their heads. In other instances, artists combined animal heads with otherwise human bodies or intentionally distorted the proportions of figures. In contrast, Shatzmiller also cites illustrated Hebrew manuscripts where the human figures are depicted without any alterations.

In chapter 6, Shatzmiller continues to explore “the complex issue of Christian contribution to Jewish art” (120) by citing examples of non-Jewish craftsmen producing Jewish ritual objects and illuminated manuscripts. He claims that Jews sometimes preferred their sacred objects, especially illustrated manuscripts, to be made by non-Jews. Shatzmiller suggests that this preference was legitimized by German rabbis, like Ephraim of Regensberg and Meir of Rothenberg, who wrote that figural imagery in Jewish possession did not violate the second commandment if it was created by “others,” a Talmudic category that likely referred to non-Jews (139–40). Shatzmiller’s claim that artistic production in a cross-cultural context requires difference provides an intriguing alternative to the claims of other scholars that cultural and artistic influence between Christians and Jews persisted despite difference.

To further support the claim that economic necessity resulted in Jewish-Christian cultural interchange, Shatzmiller’s final chapter explores how Jewish silversmiths, bookbinders, painters, and coral craftsmen worked in the service of the church. Despite papal and royal legislation that criminalized or prohibited Jewish artists from producing Christian devotional objects, this practice nevertheless continued. Moreover, Jewish religious laws and commentaries sanctioned this interaction.

If Cultural Exchange has any flaws, they are organizational. Sometimes, the presentation of Hebrew texts or archival material is so detailed that one can lose track of the larger argument. In addition, one of the most powerful ideas appears as an afterthought. In the appendix, “Jewish Traditions and Ceremonies: How Original?” Shatzmiller discusses the larger stakes of his project. In addition to demonstrating influences of Christian art on Jewish art via economic channels, his study problematizes the concept of a distinct boundary between Judaism and Christianity. The appendix highlights that certain rituals previously understood as intrinsically Jewish likely originated in Christian practice; Jews adapted and altered them to support Jewish beliefs. This complex issue merits further discussion and integration in the book.

Yet overall, Shatzmiller weaves together economic, social, and art history in a manner that is both broad in scope and detailed, benefiting readers of all levels of knowledge. Those seeking to do further research will find helpful his survey of numerous archival sources. The frequent consideration of previous scholarship will be useful to non-specialists. All readers are provided with fresh insights from his treatment of Hebrew legal texts, commentaries, and rabbinic writings.