The Conversion of the Jews in Rome Print of Jews forced to listen to a Christian sermon
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 18.250 inches (46.355 cm) | Width: 23.750 inches (60.325 cm)
Creator(s)
- Peter Ehrenthal (Compiler)
- Hieronymus Hess (Artist)
Biographical History
The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures.
Archival History
The print was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz Family
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Lithograph by Konstantin Guise (1810-1858) after a drawing by Hieronymus Hess (1799-1850), ca. 1823. It depicts a monk giving a sermon to an assembly of Jews who were forced to listen to a Christian sermon every Saturday. These mandatory gatherings were held at the church of Sant'Angelo in Pescharia in Rome from the 17th to the 19th century. The engraving is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Print of a lithograph in black ink on paper of a large, colonnaded room crowded with people. In the left center, a scowling man in a monk’s robe stands on a raised platform addressing the crowd. His right thumb points at a crucifix on the wall behind, and his left hand, palm down, is extended toward the rows of mostly Jewish men seated on benches in front of him. Most have beards and large noses and wear hats and overcoats; several look around disinterestedly, a few sleep. In the center, a man in the second row covers his mouth with his hand and cowers before monk who steps toward him with his hand raised as if to strike him. Behind him, in the right foreground, are 2 monks in skull caps and robes with their hands on a kneeling man in a turban and dark robe. In the left foreground, a man in a hooded robe with a cross speaks to a uniformed soldier with a rifle near a man with a quill pen seated at a desk speaking to a man in a friar’s robe. A crowd of men, women, and children sit and stand in the room behind the benches. There are nave arcades beyond the 3 sides with columned arches and a second story arcade with a rose window from which 2 men look down. German captions are printed in a panel at the bottom.
Subjects
- Antisemitism in art--History--19th century.
- Jews in art--19th century.
- Christianity and antisemitism--Art--History--Pictorial works.
- Jews--Persecution--19th century--Pictorial works.
- Anti-Jewish propaganda--Pictorial works.
- Antisemitism--Italy--Rome--Pictorial works.
Genre
- Art
- Object