Kaufmann Isidor (1853–1921)

Jewish Bride, the 1910s

oil, board, original frame
37.5 x 29 cm
zn. LD Isidor Kaufmann


valuation price 600 000–900 000 CZK. Attached expert opinion by PhDr. Arno Pařík from the Jewish Museum in Prague. From the opinion: By the type of the depicted person, signature, method of painting and eventually the frame used it is an authentic work by the painter Isidor Kaufmann (1853 Arad –1921 Vienna), student of the Viennese Academy 1875–1882 (with interruption). Initially he painted small genre and gallant Biedermeier scenes for the Viennese trader Friedrich Schwarz, but as one of the first artists to do so he took an interest in Jewish themes, which he painted mainly between 1897 and 1910, and even later (largely undated). The painting “Jewish Bride” captures a young woman en face with a white bonnet and head cover, probably wearing a wig and an embroidered shirt-front before a synagogue curtain. The painter probably wanted to portray a Jewish bride before the wedding, however the attire seems to be too simple for the ceremony (the festive attire of a married woman was similar). The face of the woman corresponds to a portrait entitled “Hannah“ (Furman Coll., 137), painted according to Kaufmann’s oldest daughter Marie Paulina (b. 1894), here ca. 18/20 years old, which might date the picture roughly to around 1912, that is to the later period of his work. This is completely in accordance with the more relaxed method of painting the portrait and attire which was applied in his work after 1910.