Carol Kahn Strauss Lecture in Jewish Studies

What Does Judaism Look Like? The Invention of Visual Toleration in the Enlightenment

In 1721-25, the Amsterdam artist Bernard Picart produced some of the most influential representations of Jews and Judaism in European history. These transformative engravings, which became the most reproduced images of Jewish life in the early modern period, supported the expansion of religious toleration. David H. Price discusses Picart’s representational principle of authenticity and his promotion of works by Leon Modena and Manasseh ben Israel, two innovative rabbis who wrote about Judaism for Christian audiences.