Auction 93 Part 1 - Manuscripts, Prints and Engravings, Objects and Facsimiles, from the Gross Family Collection, and Private Collections
Great Torah Masters – Large, High–Quality Print bearing Portraits of Great Rabbis – Berlin, 1866 – No. 1
“Geonei Yisrael” / “Gallerie Berühmter Männer in Israel, Tableau I. Rabbiner des XVIII.–XIX Jahrhunderts.” Lithograph by C. Fischer. Published by M. Poppelauer, Berlin; printed by J. Hesse, Berlin, ca. 1866.
Large, high–quality lithograph featuring portraits of 22 renowned rabbis from Central Europe from the 18th and 19th centuries, including Rabbi Isaac Aboab, the “Chacham Tzvi” (Tzvi Hirsch Ashkenazi), Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschutz, Rabbi Mordechai Benet, Rabbi Abraham Tiktin, the “Chatam Sofer” (Rabbi Moses Sofer), and others. A legend giving the names of all the rabbis, along with the cities over which they presided, appears in German in the lower margin.
This lithograph represents Print No. 1 in a series created as a cooperative effort between publishers and booksellers in Berlin and New York, as indicated by the print information which appears in the margins (see following item). The lithograph is dedicated (in print) to Sir Moses Montefiore.
The publisher M. Poppelauer, owner of a bookselling company in Berlin, was responsible for publishing a wide variety of portraits of numerous rabbinical figures, in a host of different formats, throughout the second half of the 19th century.
Sheet 78.5X63 cm. Fair–good condition. Stains and creases. Tears, some lengthy, most mended professionally and artfully, with little or no damage to portraits.
See:
• Great Jewish Treasures, by Moshe Bamberger. New York, 2015, p.274–275.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, No. 112.011.072.