This illuminated manuscript is one of the masterpieces of the French National Library. The text, identified as a Siddur and Mahzor by the Spanish scribe and the likely executor of the first decoration, does not fully adhere to a Spanish tradition though part of the iconography can, in fact, be linked to the Spanish tradition. Italy was at that time one of the most important havens for Jews exiled from Spain. Scribes and artists incorporated their own traditions into the work they produced for Italian Jews while simultaneously adapting their art to the Renaissance context. This is the case with regard to the manuscript from the Smith Lesoueff donation. According to the colophon of the scribe, the copy and the first part of the decoration were finished in Emilia-Romagna, probably in Ferrara on February 15th 1520 ( 26 first Adar [5]280) by the well-known Spanish scribe Moise ben Hayyim Aqrish for his patron Isaac ben Emmanuel Norcia, a Jewish banker from the duchy of Est. However, a note at the beginning of the manuscript indicates that the work was instead created for Contsilla, Isaac ben Emmanuel’s wife. It is likely that she decided to order the additional figurative scenes depicting Jews – maybe her own family - in prayer both at home and in the synagogue. After the death of his father in 1561, Jacob ben Isaac Norcia inherited the manuscript and decided to complete the unfinished decoration in a very different style. One year later, Jacob died and the manuscripts passed to one or more unknown individuals who likely tried to complete the still-unfinished decoration by commissioning other artists. Four teams of artists consisting of illuminators and painters of varying talent failed to complete the ornamentation. The result is a profusion of styles and colour palettes that abruptly ends on page 245.

Owners and artists contributed to a patchwork of styles that provide us with a glimpse of the history of the manuscript and of the revolutionary period during which the culture of the Spanish Diaspora spread in Italy. Traces of censorship testify to the degree of acceptance (or lack thereof) and the degree to which Jews were able to integrate into the areas influenced by the Italian Renaissance.