Obj. ID: 45739
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts  Wedding Poem, Venice, circa 1700

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

The Hebrew wedding poem, composed by friends and family of the bridal couple, was an integral part of this popular genre among both Christians and Jews in Italy of the 17th and 18th centuries. The form usually began with an honorific statement praising the bridal couple and their families and expressing good wishes. The central section was the poem itself, especially composed for the occasion. The form was often either sonnets or poems of multiple stanzas with regular allusions to and printing emphasis for the names of the couple. The last section was that the salutation from and the signature of the author. While mostly found as printed documents, there are manuscript versions known as well. Both sorts exist in the Gross Family Collection.

                                          Usually such broadsides were printed, as seen in most other examples in the Gross Family Collection. But sometimes they were written by hand, as in this example. This poem, for the couple named Yitzhak and Yaffa, is a combination of the two techniques.  The exquisitely etched and hand colored border is signed by its artist, Mattio Viani.  The Viani family produced several artists in the city of Bologna, although the etched frame was published in Venice.  The poem itself is written by hand within the frame.  The poem is a series of stanzas with great compliments for both the bride and the groom.  The writer, who is apparently the scribe as well, is signed at the bottom of the page with the Hebrew initials R.C.  While the poem is not dated, the style and form of the printed frame would indicate a date of the early 18th century, making this sheet a quite early example of the genre of Jewish wedding poems in Italy.