A Magnificent Illustrated Ketubbah from Padua, 1732

Celebrating the marriage of Solomon ben Moses Heilpron to Stella bat Meir Luzzatto on Friday, 12 Shevat 5492 [=8 February 1732].

This lavishly decorated marriage contract records the wedding of members of two illustrious families. The document is embellished with a sophisticated program of design. The text is enframed within an architectural portal and bordered by two flowering plants set in elaborate vases. In the semicircular arches above each plant the artist has depicted the twelve signs of the zodiac (six in each archway). These signs of the zodiac are a visual representation of the Aramaic words written in large script in the arch just above the text of the ketubbah: be-simana tava u-be-mazala ma'alia (with a good sign and with excellent fortune). The Aramaic word for a sign of the zodiac is mazala, which also translates as luck, so the document opens with the wish that the stars and the signs of the zodiac may align and bring the new couple good fortune.

In the lower portion of the marriage contract, the artist has drawn in the personifications of the Four Seasons, from right to left: Spring—a woman holding a flower; Summer—a woman with stalks of wheat in her hair, kneeling and harvesting wheat with a sickle; Fall—a man picking grapes; and Winter—a man warming himself by a fire. The decorative cartouche directly above the text of the contract would once have contained the emblem of the groom's family, but presently, most of the pigment has been abraded. The vividly painted flowering vines and pairs of birds at the top of the document may allude to Paradise / the Garden of Eden and specifically, to the 6th blessing that each new couple receives at the wedding:

"Grant abundant joy to these loving friends, as You bestowed gladness upon Your created being in the Garden of Eden of old. Blessed are You Lord, who gladdens the groom and bride."

The bride's cousin was the well-known eighteenth-century Italian Hebrew poet, playwright and leading Kabbalist, Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (also known as the Ramhal), author of Mesilat Yesharim (The Path of the Righteous). The bridegroom was part of the poet's inner circle and the two witnesses to the ketubbah defended Moshe Chaim Luzzatto against accusations that he was a secret Sabbatical heretic.

Isaiah Romanin, the renowned poet, rabbi and kabbalist, authored a wedding poem in the couple's honor (see the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, MS 9027 V7:46).

This elaborately illustrated ketubbah is a testimony to the splendor of the Jewish communities of Italy and the sophisticated visual culture they incorporated into their lives and into the observance of their religion.

Physical Description

Ink and gouache on parchment, 31 x 32 in. Mounted within a modern plexi frame, not examined out of the frame.