Tintoretto's Hebrew book.

In Tintoretto's Saint Jerome and Saint Andrew (Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia), St. Jerome glances at an open book. Some have speculated that the book in the painting is a Hebrew Bible, similar to those published in Tintoretto's time, and consistent with classic iconography of Jerome and his Latin Bible translation. This study argues that the book can be positively identified as the 1550‐1551 edition of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah. The timing of the painting coincided with an intensified persecution of the Hebrew printing press which originated with an attack on the same Mishneh Torah edition. Placing the painting in the context of this milieu has led to a new interpretation of the painting and its placement in the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]