Der Besuch des Rabbi (The Rabbi's Visit) by Studio of Isidor Kaufmann

Der Besuch des Rabbi (The Rabbi's Visit) by Studio of Isidor Kaufmann
Description
Bears signature (lower right)

Technique
Oil on canvas

Dimensions
44.5 x 54.5 cm

Condition
Slightly soiled, some minimal frame abrasions on the top edge.

Notes
With original early 20th Century frame made in Bohemia by Josef Zuleger (according to stamp on the reverse).

Biography
Isidor Kaufmann (1853-1921) Austrian/Hungarian painter. Kaufmann is the most important Jewish genre painter. Born in Arad, Hungary in 1853, he was trained in Budapest and Vienna. In 1875 he attended the Landes-Zeichenschule in Budapest for a year. In 1876 he left for Vienna and studied under the portrait painter Aigner. He later attended the Malerschule of the Vienna academy, and later studied under Professor Trenkwald. Traveling throughout Eastern Europe, Kaufmann was constantly in search of material in Jewish towns and villages, sketching as he went. He began producing Shtetel paintings that were characterized by an exhaustive attention to detail and an acute sense of the psychological authenticity of his models. His brushwork is so precise that it is visible often under magnification. In addition to the brilliance of his colors, it was especially the objective accuracy of his drawings that disciplined the interaction of all pictorial elements and in combination with the brightness of the images inspired the feeling of clarity. His most noted paintings refer to the life of Jews in Poland. They include: Der Besuch des Rabbi (the original of which was owned by Emperor Franz Joseph I, in the Kunshitorisches Museum), Schachspieler, Der Zweifler (for which he received the gold medal at the Weltausstellung of 1873). Kaufman's other honors include: the Baron Konigswarter Künstler-Preis, the gold medal of the Emperoro of Germany, a gold medal of the International Exhibition at Munich, and a medal of the third class at the Exposition Universelle in Paris.