Isidor Kaufmann

Religious Institution

By whom sold, Sotheby's, New York, April 25, 2006, lot 101

Where acquired by the father of the present owner

This dignified Portrait of a Rabbi shows Kaufmann at the height of his powers. In the present work, an elderly and dignified Rabbi stands before a Torah curtain, inscribed with Hebrew letters, enveloped in a holy atmosphere. With his slightly parted lips and direct gaze, the sitter seems about to speak. Wisdom and solemnity are exemplified in his delicately rendered face and in his direct gaze. He embodies the nobility of the elderly Jewish sage, devoted to the Torah and a Jewish way of life that was fast disappearing from the villages of Eastern Europe and Russia to which Kaufmann travelled each summer in the early 1900s. Kaufmann was intrigued by the revered and learned older men he encountered on these trips; the artist's striking portraits of these rabbinical sages are enhanced by Kaufmann's use of ornamental background detail and a sumptuous palette.

Kaufmann skillfully paints the details of his soft wrinkled skin and long white beard, making each hair visible through layers of fine brush strokes. The rabbi wears an imposing streimel, painted in tones of brown and mauve, and sits before a magnificent green and red Torah Ark curtain, typically inscribed with dedicatory text. His dark jacket contrasts with the tallit and splendid atara, shimmering with silver and gold thread. The highly detailed gold-threaded embroidery shines as it contrasts with the cream white cloth into which it is woven. This luxuriously ornate garb symbolizes a high Holy day of great importance.

Kaufmann was able to express his respect and appreciation for Jewish customs through his works as he captured the essence and atmosphere of the Sabbath and the venerated Rabbis who perform its rituals. This particular sitter was a favorite model of Kaufmann’s and appears in several other portraits, including Rabbi with Prayer Shawl and Kaufmann’s last unfinished painting, Of the High Priest’s Tribe (G. Tobias Natter, Rabbiner, Bocher, Talmudschüller, Bilder des Weiner Malers Isidor Kaufmann 1853-1921, exh. cat, Jüdishcen Musuem der Wien, 1995, pp. 243 and 249).