Sabbath Rest (Sabbath-Ruhe auf der Gasse)

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Seemingly peaceful, this scene harbors dynamic undercurrents. It honors a political revolution and contains seeds of feminist action.

After Sabbath lunch, all take their customary nap, including the family cat. Grandmother, hair covered, reads a traditional prayer book for women. Through the doorway symbolically leading to the future, her modern, bareheaded granddaughter enjoys the latest novel. The portal is conspicuously inscribed with the date 1789. This salutes the French Revolution, whose philosophy of equality led to the dismantling of the ghetto and the emancipation of the Jews. Oppenheim's access to professional training in European art academies was a direct result of the civil rights that Jews gained under French occupation.

Source: The Jewish Museum, New York, MORITZ DANIEL OPPENHEIM: SCENES FROM FRANKFURT'S JEWISH PAST, July 2-December 10, 2000.

Provenance: the artist's family (after 1866; sold to Hermann Cramer); Hermann Cramer, Frankfurt, Germany (until d. 1919); his wife, Hedwig Cramer, Frankfurt, Germany (1919-d. 1934); her son, Sally H. Cramer, Hamburg, Germany, later London, England (1934-d.1952); his son, Robert Cramer (1952); [sale, ?London, England, about 1952]?. Oscar Gruss, New York, N.Y.(until 1999)

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Published References: Hess, Jonathan. MIDDLEBROW LITERATURE AND THE MAKING OF GERMAN-JEWISH IDENTITY. California: Stanford University Press, 2010.

Heuberger, Georg and Anton Merk, eds. MORITZ DANIEL OPPENHEIM: DIE ENTDECKUNG DES JÜDISCHEN SELBSTBEWUSSTSEINS IN DER KUNST. JEWISH IDENTITY IN 19TH CENTURY ART. Köln: Wienand, 1999, no. VI.25, pp. 291, 375.

Israel Museum, Jerusalem. MORITZ OPPENHEIM: THE FIRST JEWISH PAINTER. Exh. cat. Jerusalem. Ben-Zvi Printing Enterprises Ltd., 1983, p. 41.

Kleeblatt, Norman L. THE PAINTINGS OF MORITZ OPPENHEIM: JEWISH LIFE IN 19TH CENTURY GERMANY. Exh. brochure. New York: The Jewish Museum, New York, 1981.

Oppenheim, Moritz. BILDER AUS DEM ALTJÜDISCHEN FAMILIEN. Frankfurt am Main, Verlag Von Heinrich Keller, 1882, no. 10.

This information may change as the result of ongoing research