Interior of a Synagogue in Rome Print of an unruly crowd of Jews in a synagogue
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 17.250 inches (43.815 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 Konstanine von Guise (1810-1858) after a drawing by Hieronymus Hess (1799-1850), ca. 1823. It depicts an unruly crowd of men in a synagogue interior in Rome. The men stand in several groups, talking, smoking, reading, and sleeping, with some apparently engaged in business deals. A few men wearing tallit, or prayer shawls, appear to be trying to worship amid the crowd. The print 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 an unruly crowd of Jewish men gathered in a large room with a central chandelier and a frieze of Hebrew text, plants, animals, and buildings. In the center is a bimah, or raised platform, decorated with an arabesque pattern, where 2 older men in tallit are reading from the Torah; a man in a top hat stands behind them, looking with interest at the crowd. To the right and left of the bimah are crowds of men in a variety of headwear, absorbed in their business. Many men sit on a bench surrounding the bimah. Some on the right talk with an animated man with his shawl draped over his shoulders gesturing with his hands, while a man in the center reads and one sleeps. A man with a young child at his knee talks to a man on the left. Behind him are 2 men in tallit trying to read from a book. Behind them, a man climbs a column, while several arch their necks to look up at him. Along the left wall a man in a turban seems to be making a deal with two other men, while nearby, a bearded man prays with his tallit draped over his head. In the left foreground are 3 young boys: 1 plugs his ears with his fingers, 1 sits with a book, and the 3rd hangs from the back of a wooden bench on which 3 men sit in conversation. In the right foreground, a man stands smoking a cigarette with a group of men, one dressed like trader, one in Greek or Eastern European dress, another in Dutch dress. To the right, along the wall with Hebrew text, stand 2 men with tallit draped over their head watching the scene. Behind them on the left, groups of men, most frowning and wearing hats and coat, stand close to together talking. The square room has Corinthian columns and an arcade with framed paintings.
Subjects
- Jews--19th century--Pictorial works.
- Antisemitism--Italy--Rome--Pictorial works.
- Jews in art--19th century.
- Christianity and antisemitism--Art--History--Pictorial works.
- Antisemitism in art--History--19th century.
- Anti-Jewish propaganda--Pictorial works.
Genre
- Object
- Art