Isidor KAUFMANN ✿

Isidor Kaufmann (1853-1921) was an Austro-Hungarian painter best known for his realistic genre scenes of Jewish themes. Having devoted his career to genre painting, he traveled throughout Eastern Europe in search of scenes of Jewish, often Hasidic life.

He sought to probe the spiritual depths of his subjects, whether they were poor ghetto inhabitants in Krakow, or an important Rabbi in Vienna. Born in Arad, Kingdom of Hungary, Kaufmann started painting later in life, and after being rejected from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, he began studying under the portraitist Joseph Matthäus Aigner.

Besides having esteemed figures collect his work Emperor Franz Joseph owned Der Besuch des Rabbi the artist also received three medals of achievement to honor his paintings. Today, his works are in the collections of the Tate Gallery in London, The Jewish Museum in New York, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, among others. Kaufmann died in 1921 in Vienna, Austria.