Isidor Kaufmann

Private Collection (circa 1950)
Thence by descent (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, April 25, 2006, lot 96, illustrated)

Vienna, Jüdischen Museum der Stadt Wien, Rabbiner, Bocher, Talmudschüler, Bilder des Wiener Malers Isidor Kaufmann, 1853-1921, February 24-May 7, 1995

G. Tobias Natter, Rabbiner, Bocher, Talmudschüler, Bilder des Wiener Malers, Isidor Kaufmann, 1853-1921, Vienna, 1995, p. 210, illustrated p. 211

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting is in beautiful condition. The panel on which it is painted is made from a single piece of wood, which is flat and unbroken. The paint layer is clean and varnished. There do not appear to be any restorations and the picture is in perfect condition.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Another version of this painting is in the collection of the Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam (no.02977).

In this arresting image of the artist's son Eduard dressed in Hasidic clothing, Kaufmann displays his considerable talent for rendering texture from the jauntily tied red scarf (the only secular element of his dress) to his matte, black jacket and velvet spodek with lustrous, fur trim.  The soft golden glow of the parochet or Torah curtain against which he is placed, gives the image a beautiful luminosity.  Though the lettering is somewhat obscured by the boy, the two letters at the top of the picture mean Keter Tora (crown of law), and often appears on a parochet.  In the second row on the left is the word Wolf, which is another version of the name Isidor.  On the fourth row on the left one can read 'in the year' but unfortunately the figure stands before the date.  The three letters in the fifth row mean 'according to the short counting of the era'.  The rest is sadly indecipherable.