Old Masters Day Sale, including portrait miniatures from the collection of the late Dr Erika Pohl-Ströher
Old Masters Day Sale, including portrait miniatures from the collection of the late Dr Erika Pohl-Ströher
Property of the late Dr Erika Pohl Stroher (1919-2016)
Catharina da Costa
An allegory of summer
Lot Closed
December 9, 04:41 PM GMT
Estimate
2,000 - 3,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property of the late Dr Erika Pohl Stroher (1919-2016)
Catharina da Costa
Fl. England first half of the 18th century
An allegory of summer
watercolour and bodycolour heightened with gold on ivory, silver frame;
signed and dated lower left: C: da Costa / 1713
5 by 7 cm., 2 1⁄16 by 2¾ in.
Sale, London, Christie's, 13 December 1983, lot 45
Catharina da Costa was the earliest known English Jewish artist and the first Jewish woman artist whose work has survived. She was the daughter of Dr. Fernando Mendez, physician to King Charles II. Da Costa studied with the famous drawing-master and mezzotint engraver Bernard Lens, and painted portrait miniatures of her family and of other members of the Jewish community. Among her works are portraits of her father in full 18th-century dress (1721) and of her ten-year-old son, Abraham da Costa (1714). She was married to Anthony Moses da Costa (1667/9–1747), a prosperous Sephardi merchant.