Joseph Shatzmiller. Cultural Exchange: Jews, Christians, and Art in the Medieval Marketplace.
Diane Wolfthal
In his latest book, Joseph Shatzmiller marries economic history and art to explore the role of marketplace in exchange aesthetic values medieval Europe. The first part book examines Jewish moneylenders as agents cultural transmission who received Christian pawns. Chapter 1 focuses on humblest moneylenders, chapter 2 those whose pawns included liturgical objects, 3 wealthiest pawnbrokers, luxury objects. second section explores human imagery Ashkenazic art. discusses murals a rabbinical home then attitudes German Jews toward figural depictions. third artists crossed religious borders, that is, Christians worked for patrons Christians. convincingly argues held shaped aesthetics. silver vessels, precious jewelry, golden caskets, even royal ducal crowns. draws wide range sources—legal treatises, notaries' records, inventories—that he organizes into series case studies demonstrate shared norms, peacefully coexisted, collaborated with one another production
The American Historical Review