Two different worlds present themselves to the scholar of Hebrew illuminated manuscripts from Spain. Two distinct artistic idioms reflect the history of Spanish medieval Jewry, its cultural identities, its socioeconomic background, and its religious and ideological struggles. One is nonfigurative, nonnarrative, an almost aniconic idiom, with a clear preference for ornament in a style that reveals strong Islamic influence (Fig. 1). The second tells the story of ancient Israel in a ...