19th-Century European Paintings & Works of Art, Featuring An Independent Eye: Property from Jack Kilgore & Co. (Lots 11-47)
19th-Century European Paintings & Works of Art, Featuring An Independent Eye: Property from Jack Kilgore & Co. (Lots 11-47)
Property from a Private Collector, Israel
Isidor Kaufmann
Young Student
Auction Closed
May 22, 09:00 PM GMT
Estimate
150,000 - 250,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from a Private Collector, Israel
Isidor Kaufmann
Austrian 1853 - 1921
Portrait of a Yeshiva Boy wearing a Streimel, in front of a Torah ark curtain
signed lower right: Isidor Kaufmann
oil on panel
panel: 13 ¾ by 10 ⅜ in.; 35 by 26.5 cm
framed: 18 ¼ by 15 ¼ in.; 46.3 by 38.7 cm
Private collection, New York
Sale: Sotheby's, Tel Aviv, 15 April 1998, lot 254
Acquired at the above by the present owner
This magnificent portrait of a young boy captures the simple beauty, innocence and nobility of the sitter. Sensitive and empathetic, it is beautifully executed with a subtle play of light and shadow as the model gazes at the viewer from a three quarter profile. The streimel and Torah curtain are also masterfully rendered.
As Natter observed on Kaufmann’s portraits “he tried to grasp [the sitter’s] essence and endow him with a quiet magnificence”. (Natter, G.T., Isidor Kaufmann, Vienna, 1997, p. 35).
The model for this work is most likely Eduard, the artist’s young son, who also sat for similar portraits of boys against Torah curtains, such as Portrait of a Boy (G. Tobias Natter, Isidor Kaufmann, Vienna, 1995, p. 211). The present portrait, however, is almost identical with another portrait sold in these rooms, March 18, 1997, lot 254. The execution of several identical versions of the same painting was typical for Kaufmann, who was under time constrains to meet the demand of his patrons.
