Oil on canvas, painted in the oval
29 x 24 1/2 in. (73.7 x 61.6cm); together with a
PORTRAIT OF RACHEL JOSEPHSON
Oil on canvas, painted in the oval
29 x 24 1/2 in. (73.7 x 61.6cm)
EXHIBITED: (Portrait of Manuel Josephson)
'In the Beginning - American Judaica ca 1760' Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia, PA, November 9, 1994 - April 6, 1995
NOTE:
Manuel Josephson was a German immigrant and an important figure in the Jewish community of 18th century Colonial America. Manuel Josephson and Rachel Judah were married in 1759 in New York City, at which time Manuel was President of Congregation Shearith Israel. Rachel is believed to be a relative of Baruch Judah, who was the subject of a signed and dated (1761) Lawrence Kilburn painting [see: 'American Colonial Portraits' catalogue (NPG 1987)]. The Josephsons moved to Philadelphia from New York in 1776. In Philadelphia, Manuel was the leader of Congregation Mikveh Israel, founded in Philadelphia in 1740. In a show of Jewish communal loyalty to the newly formed U.S. Government, Josephson met with President George Washington on December 13, 1790 and presented him with a letter of congratulations on behalf of Mikveh Israel, and congregations in New York, Charleston and Richmond (see: 'The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of American Jewish Archives/Significant Documents Illuminating the American Jewish Experience' online). Washington replied to Josephson, stating in part, 'The affection of such a people is a treasure beyond the reach of calculation: and the repeated proofs which my fellow-citizens have given of their attachment to me, and approbation of my doings, form the purest source of my temporal felicity...' (see: 'The Occident and American Jewish Advocate/George Washington's Letter to Jewish Congregations' online, and 'Congregation Mikveh Israel' online).
Although he is listed in the New York Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists in America, paintings by Kilburn are very rare. For Similar portraits by Kilburn, please see American Colonial Painting by Waldron P. Belknap, in which Kilburn's portraits of Gerret Abeel and James Beekman are comparable to the present portrait of Manuel Josephson and Kilburn's portrait of Mrs. Garret Abeel is comparable to the present portrait of Rachel Josephson.
We wish to thank Dr. Ellen Miles for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.