Simon Blumenfeldt (; 1760 or 1770 – 1826), also known as Simon Sofer (), was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Hebrew calligrapher and writer. He possessed the gift of writing in characters so small that they could be read only by the aid of a

microscope A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...

. The

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

was thus written by him nine times on a piece of paper the size of a square inch. He could write readable letters and words even on the very edge of ordinary

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anima ...

paper. He was also a skilful draftsman, and he used to embellish his excellent pencil sketches with all kind of verses and sentences. He traveled extensively through Europe, and received rewards from many sovereigns. Blumenfeldt presented numerous script portraits to Emperor

Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. The son of ...

, and a

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

, of the size of a finger, to

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...

. He left in manuscript ''Diaries of Travel''; ''Pene Shim'on'', a commentary on the Bible, published by his son Moses in his work, ''Magid Mesharim'' (Hanover, 1851); and ''Tenaim u-Ketubah le-Shev'uot ve-Purim'', a humoristic poem.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blumenfeldt, Simon 1770 births 1826 deaths 18th-century calligraphers 19th-century calligraphers Artists from the Russian Empire Jewish artists Jewish writers from the Russian Empire People from Courland Governorate People from Jelgava Russian calligraphers