Illuminando la décima plaga de Egipto: la muerte de los primogénitos en el programa pictórico de las haggadot medievales catalanas, particularidades e inflencias
Alba Barceló
As one can read in the text of the Passover Haggadah, the plagues of Egypt play a crucial role in the story of the liberation of the Israelites in Egyptian lands. For this reason, one can find a representation of the ten plagues within the iconographic programme of the haggadot, a theme that acquires special prominence given that each plague is illuminated separately. Although all of them are equally important, the plague of the firstborn, the last one, stands out in particular because subsequently triggered the exodus from Egypt. With regard to its pictorial representation, it is the one that shows the most iconographic variations among the Catalan haggadot of the Gothic period. The aim of this research is to examine where the subject of the plagues is included within the Catalan haggadot and the reasons for the thematic choices. At the same time, the intent is also to follow the particular and most common iconographic motifs that appear in the representation of the plague of the firstborn.