Database of biblical art images launches
Dubbed the first searchable index of fine art and folk images devoted solely to the Bible and its commentaries, “Visual Midrash” has just launched.
“Virtual Midrash” is the brainchild of Dr. Jo Milgrom, a prominent Israeli lecturer in art as midrash at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies graduate school, as well as biblical scholar Dr. Joel Duman, lecturer at the Schechter Institute and Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem . The website features some 560 works of art, along with essays in English and Hebrew on themes including Creation, Cain and Abel, Abraham, Hagar and Sarah, Jacob and his Dreams, and Moses.
Each art image on the web site includes referenced biblical sources, artistic medium, date and short description of the work, as well as biographies of the artists. Topical hypertext essays examine a total of twenty themes explored in “Virtual Midrash,” and include links to related texts from Jewish Midrash and Commentary as well as from Christian and Muslim writings on biblical subjects. The collection is searchable by artist, subject, medium and/or biblical source.
The website is the work of the TALI Education Fund, which provides support for Jewish studies at more than 185 Israeli schools and pre-schools. It was funded by Howard and Carole Tanenbaum, Targum Shlishi, and David Klein. Additional funding is being sought to enable all 3,000 art images to be processed and included on the site.
