Moritz Oppenheim
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Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (7 January 1800 in
Hanau Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ...
, Germany – 26 February 1882 in Frankfurt am Main) was a German painter who is often regarded as the first Jewish painter of the modern era. His work was influenced by his cultural and religious roots at a time when many of his German Jewish contemporaries chose to convert to Christianity. Oppenheim is considered by the scholar Ismar Schorsch to be in sympathy with the ideals of the
Wissenschaft des Judentums "''Wissenschaft des Judentums''" (Literally in German the expression means "Science of Judaism"; more recently in the US it started to be rendered as "Jewish Studies" or "Judaic Studies," a wide academic field of inquiry in American Universities) ...
movement, because he remained "fair to the present" without denying his past.


Biography

Oppenheim was born to Jewish parents at Hanau, Germany in 1800; he died at Frankfurt am Main in 1882. He received his first lessons in painting from
Conrad Westermayr Conrad Westermayr (30 January 1765, Hanau - 5 October 1834, Hanau) was a German painter and copper engraver. Life and work His father, Daniel Jacob Westermayr (1734–1788), was a goldsmith. He learned that craft from him, while attending the ...
, in Hanau, and entered the Munich Academy of Arts at the age of seventeen. Later he visited Paris, where
Jean-Baptiste Regnault Jean-Baptiste Regnault (9 October 1754 – 12 November 1829) was a French painter. Biography Regnault was born in Paris, and began life at sea in a merchant vessel. At the age of fifteen his talent attracted attention, and he was sent to I ...
became his teacher, and then went to Rome, where he studied with
Bertel Thorwaldsen Bertel Thorvaldsen (; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danish and Icelandic sculptor medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a working-class Danish/ ...
, Barthold Georg Niebuhr, and Johann Friedrich Overbeck. There he studied the life of the
Jewish ghetto In the Jewish diaspora, a Jewish quarter (also known as jewry, ''juiverie'', ''Judengasse'', Jewynstreet, Jewtown, or proto-ghetto) is the area of a city traditionally inhabited by Jews. Jewish quarters, like the Jewish ghettos in Europe, were ...
and made sketches of the various phases of its domestic and religious life, in preparation for several large canvases which he painted upon his return to Germany. In 1825 he settled at Frankfurt, and shortly after exhibited his painting '' David Playing Before Saul,'' to see which a great number of admirers from all parts of Europe visited his studio. In 1832, at the instance of Goethe,
Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Charles Frederick (german: Karl Friedrich; 2 February 1783 – 8 July 1853) was the reigning Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Biography Born in Weimar, he was the eldest son of Charles Augustus, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Luise Au ...
conferred upon him the honorary title of professor. Oppenheim was commissioned to paint several portraits of prominent members of the
Rothschild banking dynasty The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of Fra ...
. Oppenheim also portrayed his grandson Alfred Oppenheim, who became also a well known artist. Oppenheim taught at the
Städel Institute The Städel, officially the ''Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie'', is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The Städel Museum owns 3,100 paintings, 660 sculptures, more than 4,600 ...
, where
Julius Bien Julius Bien (27 September 1826, Naumburg – 21 December 1909, Manhattan, New York) was an American lithographer originally from Germany, as well as president of B’nai B’rith for more than three decades. He also produced a lithographed edit ...
was one of his students.


Selected works

Oppenheim's studies of Jewish life, his pictures of Emperor Joseph II and Moses Mendelssohn, and his portraits from life of Ludwig Börne and other contemporary Jewish notables, established his reputation as one of the foremost Jewish artists of the nineteenth century. His ''Return of the Jewish Volunteer'' is among his most famous works and was frequently reproduced; others include ''Mignon and the Harper,'' ''Italian Genre Scene,'' ''Confirmation,'' and ''Sabbath Blessing''. All these are characteristic examples of his power of conception and skill at grouping. Moritz Daniel Oppenheim - The Return of the Volunteer from the Wars of Liberation to His Family Still Living in Accordance wit... - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Return of the Jewish Volunteer from the Wars of Liberation to His Family Still Living According to Old Customs'' (1833–34) Oppenheim - Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara - 1862.jpg, ''The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara'' (1862) Moritz Daniel Oppenheim Portrait Leopold Zunz.jpeg, ''Portrait of
Leopold Zunz Leopold Zunz ( he, יום טוב צונץ—''Yom Tov Tzuntz'', yi, ליפמן צונץ—''Lipmann Zunz''; 10 August 1794 – 17 March 1886) was the founder of academic Judaic Studies (''Wissenschaft des Judentums''), the critical investigation ...
'' Fanny Hensel 1842.jpg, ''Portrait of Fanny Hensel''


References

*
Jewish Expression in Twentieth-Century Fine Arts
*
Museen Hanau: Die Entdeckung des jüdischen Selbstbewußtseins in der Kunst
* ttp://www.cocon-verlag.de/books/juden/openheim.htm Der Zyklus "Bilder aus dem altjüdischen Familienleben" und sein Maler*
Georg Heuberger Georg Heuberger (19467 November 2010) was founding director of the Jewish Museum Frankfurt and representative of the Claims Conference. Biography He was born in Budapest, Hungary. Both his parents, Dolek and Franziska, escaped from the Bochnia ...
/Anton Merk: ''Moritz Daniel Oppenheim: Die Entdeckung des jüdischen Selbstbewußtseins in der Kunst''. Wienand Verlag 1999. *Anja Klöckner:'' Antikenrezeption bei Moritz Daniel Oppenheim''. In: Antike Welt 2, 2001, 147–154. *Claus Stephani:'' Das Bild des Juden in der modernen Malerei.'' Eine Einführung. / Imaginea evreului în pictura modernă. Studiu introductiv. Traducere în limba română de Ion Peleanu. (Zweisprachige Ausgabe, deutsch-rumänisch. Ediţie bilingvă, româno-germană.) Editura Hasefer: București, 2005. *Ruth Dröse, Frank Eisermann, Monica Kingreen, Anton Merk: ''Der Zyklus "Bilder aus dem altjüdischen Familienleben" und sein Maler Moritz Daniel Oppenheim''. CoCon-Verlag Hanau.


External links


The Wedding
1861 – Moritz Oppenheim The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Moritz Daniel Oppenheim – the First Jewish Painter
trailer of a documentary
Moritz Daniel Oppenheim
in the Jewish Museum Frankfurt {{DEFAULTSORT:Oppenheim, Moritz Daniel 1800 births 1882 deaths Jewish painters 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 19th-century German Jews Burials at the Old Jewish Cemetery, Frankfurt