The Mantua Torah Ark and Lady Consilia Norsa: Jewish Female Patronage in Renaissance Italy

Sometimes the pages of a small book can hold a revelation, and a few words may shed light on a story that is waiting to be unveiled and told. This happened to me when I read a colophon on a small preciously illuminated Italian maḥzor, which mentions a certain Consilia-Sara, the wife of Isaac Norsa.

This woman’s name sounded somewhat familiar and reminded me of a similar inscription associated with a magnificent Torah Ark and two monumental cathedrae, made of gilt engraved wood decorated with running fine acanthus motifs (fig. 1), that were given to the Great Synagogue in Mantua by a woman in the month of Nissan in the year 1543. An inscription on one of the cathedrae informs us that the donor was Consilia-Sara, daughter of Shemuel Da Pisa, wife of Isaac Norsa (Norzi), of Ferrara (fig. 2). The ark and the cathedrae are now in Jerusalem, exhibited among the highlights of the Umberto Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art.¹ However, their full story remains to be told.

The wooden ark was built for the Great Synagogue (Scola Grande) of the Italian rite, the most important of the nine synagogues in Mantua at that time, which served as the focus of Jewish life and activity in that city.² Founded as the private synagogue of the Da Fano family in the Grifone Quarter, it was later acquired by the community, which enlarged it in 1542. The construction of a new Torah ark was probably planned on that occasion, and one year later the ark and its cathedrae were donated. The only synagogue remaining in Mantua today is the Norsa Torrazzo, which still hosts the Jewish community (fig. 3).³

The symmetric composition of the ark is crowned at the top by two monumental urns, with clusters designed to represent the ner tamid (eternal flame) found in every

Fig. 1.

Torah ark and Cathedrae, Mantua, 1543, carved gilt wood. U. Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art, Jerusalem. Digital photograph and assembling: Moshe Caine

Fig. 2.

Cathedra, Mantua, 1543, detail. Photograph: Restoration report by Studio Oro, Alice Dias

synagogue. The artwork atop the center of the ark is an elegant decoration of acanthus leaves and volutes and two gilt inscriptions: “Torah crown” and below “Prepare to meet thy God” (Amos 4:12; fig. 4).

The same decoration of acanthus volutes and rosettae is used on a smaller scale for the two detailed cathedrae, which were constructed for prestigious figures within the community; the cathedrae’s back panels are adorned with a large carving of an urn filled with a big tree surrounded by palm leaves. Two sets of drawers were set directly below the ark, probably to be used as storage space for prayer books and Torah scroll and ark accessories.

Fig. 3.

The Norsa Synagogue, Mantua. Photograph courtesy of The Jewish Community of Mantua

Fig. 4.

Torah ark, Mantua, 1543, detail. Photograph: Restoration report by Studio Oro, Alice Dias

An inscription paraphrasing the Decalogue is carved in gilt letters on the interior doors of the ark on a background covered by silver leaves (fig. 5).

Revealing the Patroness

The inscription that appears on one of the cathedrae reads: “Mrs Consilia Sara, [Above women in the tent shall she be blessed] wife of Isaac Norsa, [May God protect and preserve him], parnas of Ferrara, daughter of Shemuel [written in the short form, Shemaya] of Pisa [May his memory live in the world to come]” (fig. 2).⁴ The inscription continues on the side facing the Torah ark: “Here, in the Great Synagogue of Mantua, Nissan [March/April], [5]303 [1543].”⁵

The woman’s name or was probably pronounced Consiglia in Italian, a literal translation of the Hebrew name or (Sar or Sara), which means minister or counselor in Hebrew; from here the name Consilia. This name is found in the...