Bio

Tiago Moita graduated in Theology and in Art History. He is PhD student at University of Lisbon with a thesis devoted to fifteenth century Portuguese Hebrew illuminated manuscripts, and was a researcher in the Project “Hebrew Illumination in Portugal during the fifteenth century.” He has done research in the major libraries and Hebrew collections of Europe, the USA, and Israel. In 2014, the Reynolds Historical Library (Birmingham, Alabama) granted him a fellowship to study a medical Hebrew manuscript with Tobiel ben Samuel of Leiria’s translation of Gerard de Solo’s Commentary to the ninth book of Rhaze’s Almansor. He prepared, with Luís Urbano Afonso, the edition of a book entitled Sephardic Book Art of the Fifteenth Century, published by Brepols/Harvey Miller.

Project

Study of the Illuminated Iberian Hebrew Manuscripts of the Fifteenth Century preserved in the Libraries of Madrid

Art history studies about Iberian Hebrew manuscripts have been mainly focused on the emergence of the decorated Hispano-Jewish book, during the 13^th century in Toledo, or with the emergence of illuminated Jewish narrative cycles, during the following century in Catalonia. With some notable exceptions, such as the First Kennicott Bible (La Coruña, 1476) or the Lisbon Bible (1482), the majority of the fifteenth century Iberian Hebrew illuminated manuscripts have remained overlooked by researchers. As part of my ongoing study of Portuguese Hebrew manuscripts of the fifteenth century, I plan to study the illuminated Sephardic manuscripts of the same period preserved in the libraries of Madrid (Biblioteca Histórica of the Complutense University, National Library of Spain, and the libraries of El Escorial, and of the Royal Palace). My research focuses mainly on the decorative aspects of these manuscripts emphasizing their artistic complexity and their cultural dialogue both earlier Hispano-Jewish book art and contemporary Christian and Mudejar artistic creations.

During 2021, Moita published his book “El libro hebreo iluminado en Portugal en la Edad Media (siglos XIII-XV)” (2021, Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas).