Isidor Kaufmann

Sale: Property of a Religious Institution, Sotheby's, New York, April 25, 2006, lot 101
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner

The below condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work on panel is in beautiful condition. The panel is flat. The paint layer seems to be stable and clean. The painting is completely undamaged except for two thin cracks in the panel in the center and center left of the bottom edge measuring about 2 ½ - 3 inches long. These are slightly visible and may require a little attention. Although the paint layer reads unevenly under ultraviolet light, no retouches are visible. If there are retouches, they would be a few spots in the darker areas of the left background, but this is unlikely. The varnish is possibly slightly soft and dull. The painting could be varnished slightly brighter, but it can also be hung in its current state.
"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."

This dignified Portrait of a Rabbi shows Kaufmann at the height of his powers.

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 Torah and a Jewish way of life that was fast disappearing from the villages to which Kaufmann travelled each summer in the early 1900s. The 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, Isidor Kaufmann 1853-1921, 1995, pp. 243 and 249).

In this particular portrait, Kaufmann lavishes equal care on the clothing and background as he accords to the Rabbi’s face. He wears an imposing streimel, painted in tones of brown and purple, 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.

Kaufmann’s place in the history of celebrated Viennese portraiture was recognized this past season with his inclusion in a landmark exhibition Facing the Modern: The Portrait in Vienna 1900 at the National Gallery, London (October 2013 – January 2014).