Catherine da Costa was an English miniature painter, commonly recognized as the first known female Jewish painter. Likewise, she was the first English-born Jewish artist and the second English-born female artist in recorded history. Da Costa’s father, Fernando Mendez, who was of Portuguese origin, was physician to Charles II and named his daughter after Queen Catherine. Da Costa married a wealthy merchant, Anthony Moses da Costa. She studied under the famous drawing master and engraver Bernard Lens III and painted miniatures of her family and other members of the Jewish community. In a self-portrait from ca. 1721, she depicts herself at work in a studio, painting a portrait of mother and child that resembles paintings of Madonna and child. Among her works is also a painting of her father in full eighteenth-century dress, a miniature of her son, Abraham, and a portrait of the merchant Francis (Daniel) Salvador.
In a self-portrait from ca. 1721, Catherine da Costa depicts herself at work in a studio, painting a portrait of mother and child that resembles paintings of the Madonna and child.
No, Anton Wanzl was not good. He lacked love, he lacked heart. He did only what he thought was clever and sensible. He gave no love and asked for none. He never needed any affection, any tenderness…
The three art nouveau-influenced covers by Ber Kratko for three of Y. L. Peretz’s plays feature somewhat grotesque figures. The one for Vos in fidele shtekt (What Sticks in the Fiddle) features a…