Moritz Daniel Oppenheim

Moritz Daniel Oppenheim ( born January 7, 1800 Hanau, † February 26, 1882 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German portrait and historical painter.

Life

Moritz Daniel Oppenheim grew up in a middle-class Orthodox milieu. From the age of four on, he attended the voluntary Jewish elementary school, the cheder, where he learned Hebrew and Jewish prayers. As a boy experienced Oppenheim 1806 the invasion of the Imperial French army and the consequent abolition of the ghetto. His talent for drawing led him in 1820 to the Städel Art Institute in Frankfurt. As the first Jewish artist, he received an academic education and has already led to fourteen years of work for the Finance Minister of the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt. During his apprenticeship and journeyman years, he came to Munich, Paris, and finally to Rome, where he belonged to the circle of the Nazarenes around Friedrich Overbeck. Dominated in Italy or religious topics, he was on his return to Frankfurt (1825 ) with numerous portraits of Jewish personalities ( ex. the Rothschild family ) to the painter of the emancipated Jewish bourgeoisie.

The catalog of works documented more than 700 works, of which nearly one-third is lost. One of his works is owned by the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt am Main and Hanau Castle in the Historical Museum Philippsruhe.

Reference to Judaism

Oppenheim's biography is exceptional in several ways. First, he was in the first half of the 19th century, the only significant painter, born a Jew, his life Jew remained. Second, he chose, in contrast to most later Jewish painters, for many of his works from both artistic and personal intention of specifically Jewish themes. Third, he obtained with his work, especially among Jews whose ideals and feelings he reflected reputation.