Jewish Woman in Izmir, Turkey.

Cornelis de Bruyn

1714

Image

Print portrait of woman facing viewer wearing large hat and many-stranded pearls. — This engraving depicting a Jewish woman in Izmir, Turkey, is from Cornelis de Bruyn’s travelogue, *Reizen van Corn. de Bruyn door de vermaardste deelen van Klein Asia, de eylanden Scio, Rhodus, Cyprus enz. mitsg. de voornaamste steden van Aegypten, Syrien en Palestina* (*The Travels of Corn. de Bruyn through the Most Famous Parts of Asia Minor, the islands of Scio, Rhodes, Cyprus, etc. with the Principal Cities of Egypt, Syria, and Palestine*), first published in Delft, the Netherlands, in 1698. Before the advent of photography, it was not uncommon for artists to travel to what were considered exotic or picturesque locations in Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, and to produce artworks upon their return home that helped satisfy the curiosity of the public about distant places and peoples.

Credits

Cornelis de Bruyn, from Voyage au Levant, c’est-à-dire, dans les principaux en-droits de l’Asie Mineure, dans les isles de Chio, Rhodes, & Chypre, &c., de même que dans les plus consid érables villes d’Égypte, de Syrie, et de la Terre Sainte (Paris: Guillaume Cavelier, 1714), p. 220. Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

Jewish Man in Cairo

This engraving depicting a Jewish man in Cairo, Egypt is from Cornelis de Bruyn’s travelogue, Reizen van Corn. de Bruyn door de vermaardste deelen van Klein Asia, de eylanden Scio, Rhodus, Cyprus enz…

View Source

Photograph of a building with triangular roof sections, many long windows, and tower on the corner of a street.

Synagogue, Linnaeusstraat, Amsterdam

The Linnaeusstraat synagogue was built in the expressionist style of the Amsterdam School, a movement that flourished from 1910 to about 1930, which favored brick construction and copious decoration…

View Source

Painting depicting a seated man in robes next to shirtless man playing harp.

David and Saul

Ernst Josephson painted David and Saul early in his career, when he was working with mostly historical and biblical subjects. Here a young, eroticized David plays a lyre for a darkly brooding King…

View Source

Engage with this Source

Creator Bio

Cornelis de Bruyn

1652–1727

Cornelis de Bruyn was a Dutch artist, writer, and traveler who published two books about his trips to the Middle East. De Bruyn studied painting in the Hague. A wealthy patron paid for his first trip abroad in 1674, to Italy, Izmir, Asia Minor, and Egypt. In 1684, he returned and went to live in Venice, where he continued to study painting. In 1698, after returning to the Hague, he published the first edition of his travelogue (Reizen van Corn. de Bruyn door de vermaardste deelen van Klein Asia, de eylanden Scio, Rhodus, Cyprus enz. mitsg. de voornaamste steden van Aegypten, Syrien en Palestina, Delft, 1698) which included 215 engravings as illustrations. In 1701, de Bruyn left on a second journey, to Russia, Persia, and the Dutch Indies. He published an illustrated account of this journey in 1711.