Abstract
When in 1714 the artist Israel ben Mordecai Liśnicki from Jaryczów painted the interior of the wooden synagogue of Chodorów, today in the L'viv (Polish, Lwów) region of western Ukraine, he did not know that one of his paintings would be the subject of divergent interpretations by art historians some three hundred years later. The controversy centers around the depiction of an eagle grasping in its talons two hares trying to escape outward. The hares are grasped by the neck (fig. 1). This depiction, located in the center of the ceiling, is surrounded by a decorative medallion inscribed with the verse "Like an eagle who rouses his nestlings, gliding down to his young, so did He spread His wings and take him, bear him along on His talons" (Deuteronomy 32:11). In the background are the twelve signs of the zodiac.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 281-294 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | AJS Review |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 2012 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grant no. 718/5). The article is dedicated to Yiẓḥak Reiner, who inspired its research and writing. I would like to thank Dr. Sergey R. Kravtsov of the Hebrew University's Center for Jewish Art for his insightful comments on this article.
Funding
This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grant no. 718/5). The article is dedicated to Yiẓḥak Reiner, who inspired its research and writing. I would like to thank Dr. Sergey R. Kravtsov of the Hebrew University's Center for Jewish Art for his insightful comments on this article.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Israel Science Foundation | 718/5 |