Converting from Judaism to Christianity not only saved the Renaissance artist Salomone da Sesso, or Ercole de’ Fedeli as he became after his baptism in 1491, from execution but freed him from harsh laws and allowed his engraving business to flourish
With no Inquisition, no purity-of-blood laws and no mass conversion campaigns, it is tempting to think of northern Italy in the Renaissance as a haven of peaceful coexistence between Christians and Jews. This is an illusion. The case of the goldsmith Salomone da Sesso, who was condemned to death in the city of Ferrara in 1491, was saved by his baptism, and who then made and lost a fortune, vividly demonstrates the precariousness of Renaissance Jewish lives and the limits of religious toleration in even the most humane of city states.
Because Salomone’s case was controversial, we can reconstruct much more of his life story than is usually the case, although the picture is still incomplete. The correspondence around his trial suggests that he had seriously upset his fellow Jews in the neighbouring town of Mantua, perhaps even spreading some dangerous accusations of his own. The most serious crime of which he was convicted was sodomy: a capital offence.
Salomone was an artist of exceptional talent, a favourite of Ferrara’s ruling Este family, headed by Duke Ercole I. Their patronage had brought him work, fame and a degree of privilege. But, as a Jew, he was subject to a much harsher interpretation of the law. He would be burned to death, and the fine that might otherwise secure his release – or, at least, a more merciful death – was beyond his means. Salomone worked long hours, with expensive and dangerous materials, for an irregular income; and he probably liked to gamble. He didn’t have money to spare.