Obj. ID: 2048
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts  The Ulm Mahzor, Ulm, 1459/60

The Ulm Mahzor of Munich is a two-volume prayer book for the Day of Atonement (vol. I) and Sukkot (vol. II) following the western Ashkenazi rite with some text following the Swabian-Swiss rite (e.g. I:152v-185; Goldschmidt 1970, II, p. 203). The Mahzor was produced for a wealthy Jewish patron from Ulm, Jacob Mattathias son of Isaac, who is mentioned as the owner in the colophon of the first volume copied by the scribe Isaac Sofer in June 1459 in the city of Ulm. The colophon of the second volume, written by another scribe, as claimed by Narkiss (Narkiss 1991, pp. 30, 35) and Glatzer (Glatzer 1991, p. 144), mentions an ambiguous date "B'R'Ch" (ברך) which indicates either 1459/60 or 1461/62.

This volume too could have been copied in Ulm, since the scribe inserted the name of Jacob Mattathias and his two sons, Abraham and Moses, into the main text as Hatan Torah (II:343v-344, 345v) and Hatan Bereshit (II:351) respectively.

Jacob Mattathias commissioned at least two additional manuscripts. One is the London Ashkenazi Haggadah of c.1460 from Ulm (Narkiss 1991, p. 35), dated by Beit-Arié to 1469-1478 (Beit-Arié 1993, p. 107) and by Glatzer to 1469-1485 (Glatzer 1991, pp. 144-145); the other is an Ashkenazi Siddur (New York, JTS MS 4057; Zirlin 2006, p. 291). Both the Haggadah and the Siddur were copied by the scribe Meir ben Israel Yaffe, who is known to have resided in Ulm in 1468 and may have begun his career there in 1459 or 1460 (Glatzer 1991, pp. 140, 144; see also CJA Documentation of Meir Yaffe’s binding of a Pentateuch now in Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 212). Thus Jacob Mattathias employed at least three different Jewish scribes to copy his manuscripts, Meir Yaffe and the two scribes of our Mahzor, and as we shall see below, he employed several artists to illuminate them.

The illumination of both volumes of the Mahzor mainly adorns the initial words with acanthus leaves, dragons and grotesques and set within painted panels. However, the significant differences in style, technique and the use of colours in each volume lead to the conclusion that the illumination of the two volumes was carried out by at least two different artists.

Considering the style, the layout of the page in the first volume is denser than that of the second. Almost no space is left between the panels and the text below them (e.g. I:45v, 69), and the decoration invades the text space (I:69) or is entwined with the text (I:48). In the second volume, on the other hand, several lines separate the decoration from the main text, thus lending spaciousness to the pages (e.g. II:2, 173v, 214, 315v). Furthermore, this volume is painted in vivid colours of red, blue and green, and gold leaf is used for every illumination. The artist of this volume uses clear contours and highlights certain areas of the motifs, giving the illusion of depth to the painting (e.g. II:2). In the first volume, the colours are dull and seem faded, and the use of gold leaf is limited; the inhabited letters are in monochrome colours and the motifs are hardly distinguishable from their background (e.g. I:69). Moreover, in the rare cases of the use of gold leaf (I:49 and 69), it is laid on a magenta ground and has cracked in some places, whereas the gold leaf in the second volume is skillfully laid flat on a thin flesh-colored base (e.g. II:2, 78).

The differences in figure style and modeling in each volume are even more prominent. The figures of the angels in the second volume (fol. 95v) are more elongated than those of the hybrids in the first (fol. 48). The angel drapery is delicately created by angular lines and contrasting light and dark shades; those of the hybrids are softer and flatter, mostly created by curved lines. The angels’ palms are smaller than those of the hybrids; their facial features are delicately drawn in fleshy tones, while those of the hybrids are outlined in thick black contours, their eyelids are half-circles above and below the eyes and the eyebrows are long and low, set close to the eyelids.

Despite these differences in style between the two volumes, both artists are rooted in the German style of the second half of the 15th century in the region of Ulm and Augsburg. Regarding the art in the second volume, Gutmann was the first to notice similarities to some of the illuminated pages of the London Ashkenazi Haggadah of c.1460 from Ulm (Gutmann 1970, p. 78, and figs. 11, 12). Indeed, a striking similarity is evident between the decorated panel in our Mahzor (fig. 1) and that in the London Haggadah (fig. 2).

Fig. 1: Initial word panel The Ulm Mahzor Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 3, II:95v	Fig. 2: Initial word panel The London Ashkenazi Haggadah Ulm, c.1460 LondonAshkenazi Haggadah Meir Jaffe (scribe) Bämler of Augsburg and Joel ben Simeon (artists) London, BL, Add. 14762, fol. 6v (Goldstein, facsimile 1985)

Both contain a gold initial word which fills the panel, placed on a similar blue ground studded with gold flowers and surrounded by a coloured band and a floral lace pattern. Fig. 1: Initial word panel The Ulm Mahzor Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 3, II:95v Fig. 2: Initial word panel The London Ashkenazi Haggadah Ulm, c.1460 London Ashkenazi Haggadah Meir Jaffe (scribe) Bämler of Augsburg and Joel ben Simeon (artists) London, BL, Add. 14762, fol. 6v (Goldstein, facsimile 1985)

Furthermore, in both manuscripts, the gold letters are tooled with large flowers and running dot patterns (e.g. II:173v). The resemblance between the two manuscripts is also evident in the acanthus leaves ending in a loop as well as the raceme of gold or red dots incorporated in the floral decoration (figs. 3, 4).

Fig. 3: Floral decoration The Ulm Mahzor Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 3, II:78	Fig. 4: Floral decoration The London Ashkenazi Haggadah Ulm, c.1460  Meir Jaffe (scribe) Bämler of Augsburg and Joel ben Simeon (artists) London, BL, Add. 14762, fol. 8v (Goldstein, facsimile 1985)

Fig. 4: Floral decoration The London Ashkenazi Haggadah Ulm, c.1460 Meir Jaffe (scribe) Bämler of Augsburg and Joel ben Simeon (artists) London, BL, Add. 14762, fol. 8v (Goldstein, facsimile 1985)

As mentioned above, the London Ashkenazi Haggadah was copied by the scribe Meir Yaffe (Glatzer 1991, p. 140), and Joel ben Simeon has signed as its painter. Indeed, Joel illuminated part of the London Haggadah, but the illuminations which show resemblances to our Mahzor were executed by an artist identified as Johannes Bämler of Augsburg (Edmunds 1980, pp. 28-29; Beier 2004, pp. 64-65) or from Bämler’s workshop (Zirlin 1995 (Viator), pp. 268-273). Bämler (c.1435-1504) was a Christian scribe, illuminator, bookseller, printer and bookbinder (Narkiss 1991, pp. 30, 35; Edmunds 1993, pp. 30, 38). One of his few signed works is the Double Leaf Art dated 1457. This leaf shows similarity to the art of our Mahzor's second volume: the saint (possibly St. Paul) in the upper left quatrefoil of the leaf (fig. 5) resembles the water-carrier in the zodiac medallion of our Mahzor (fig. 6): both are depicted on a gold ground, have wide faces and pointed chins, heavy eye-lids, and similar modeling around the mouth. Despite the similarity, the figures are not by the same hand: they suggest rather the style of Bämler's workshop.

Fig. 5: St. Paul (?), detail The Double Leaf Art by Iohannes Bämler, 1457 New York, PML MS 45, fol. 1v (Beier 2004, fig. 15)	Fig. 6: Bucket, zodiac sign The Ulm Mahzor Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 3, II:287v

Written sources of the time do not mention Bämler's workshop or the employment of apprentices or assistants by him. However, a guild protocol of c.1460 mentions that Bämler was the teacher of Thoman Burgkmair, father of the painter Hans Burgkmair (Edmunds 1993, p. 30; Beier 2004, p. 68). Also, the Augsburg tax records for 1463 show that Bämler’s taxes were doubled from the previous year either because of his wife's death or because his workshop was flourishing and could serve Jewish customers such as Jacob Mattathias of Ulm (Edmunds 1993, p. 31).

Fig. 7: Pen-drawn monkey The Ulm Mahzor Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 3, II:268	Fig. 8: Pen-drawn monkey The Washington Haggadah Germany (?), 1478 Joel ben Simeon (scribe and artist) Washington, Library of Congress Hebraic Section MS 1, fol. 15v (Weinstein, facsimile, 1991)
Fig. 9a: Pen-drawn bird Moskowitz Mahzor, fol. 3v Joel ben Simeon (scribe and artist) Florence 1492 (?) Jerusalem, NLI Heb. 40 1384, fol. 3v (Zucker 2005, p. 74)	Fig. 9b: Pen-drawn profile Moskowitz Mahzor, fol. 1v Joel ben Simeon (scribe and artist) Florence, 1492 (?) Jerusalem, NLI Heb. 40 1384, fol. 1v (Zucker 2005, p. 87)

Bämler was the main painter of the London Ashkenazi Haggadah (Edmunds 1980, pp. 32-33). His artwork was shared with Joel ben Simeon, who must have worked in his workshop and whose style can be recognized in the second volume of our Mahzor. See for example the pen-drawn monkey in our Mahzor (fig. 7), which was executed by Joel in Bämler's workshop (Zirlin, 1995 (Viator), pp. 273, 278; Zirlin 2006, p. 292). The monkey, one of Joel’s favorite motifs, also appears in the Washington Haggadah of 1478 (fig. 8). The delicate acanthus scrolls incorporating human faces in profile, a bird and a rabbit (fig. 7) were likewise executed in Joel’