Imrei Lev - Preghiere D’un Cuore Israelita [festival prayers]

The two expressive plates depict a synagogue congregation at prayer and an emotive death-bed scene (both unknown to Rubens). The death-bed scene depicts family members with prayer-books in their hands - thus depicting the tradition requiring those in the presence of the dying to recite a selection of Psalms and related prayers. A gentleman points heavenward, seemingly encouraging the dying man to recite the confession. The introduction specifies that the prayer book was primarily intended for women, both for their own use and for the purpose of instructing their children. An entire section is devoted to prayers relating to death and mourning and concludes with meditations on the nature of the soul and immortality. See: From This World to the Next - Jewish Approaches to Illness, Death and the Afterlife, Catalogue of The Jewish Theological Seminary Library (1999) p. 9 no. 1 (illus).