The Ambrosian Bible is one of the earliest illuminated Ashkenazic manuscripts. The main text of the first volume was completed in 1236 by Jacob ben Samuel, while its masorah was finalized by Joseph ben Kalonymus two years later. The illuminations are deriving from a combination of Christian iconography and complex Jewish ideas. The messianic theme is emphasized in different ways throughout the three volumes; especially prominent is the final opening, with two full-page miniatures depicting a broad cosmological composition of the End.

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The Ambrosian Bible (Milan, Biblioteca Am…