Portrait of Dr. Fernando Mendes

Catherine da Costa

1721

Full-body portrait painting of man wearing periwig and holding a book. — Among Catherine da Costa’s surviving paintings is the full-length portrait of her father, Dr. Fernando Mendes (1647–1724). Mendes was a prominent Jewish physician, who attended both King Charles II and his wife, Catherine of Braganza. He and his family were Portuguese crypto-Jews. He was brought to England by Queen Catherine from Portugal when she married into the English royal family.

Among Catherine da Costa’s surviving paintings is the full-length portrait of her father, Dr. Fernando Mendes (1647–1724). Mendes was a prominent Jewish physician, who attended both King Charles II and his wife, Catherine of Braganza. He and his family were Portuguese crypto-Jews. He was brought to England by Queen Catherine from Portugal when she married into the English royal family.

Credits

With permission of the Trustees of the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi Community of London, photo by Smilynne Joukovski.

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

Portrait of Francis (Daniel) Salvador

Francis Salvador (Daniel Francisco Salvador, 1685–1754) was born in Amsterdam. He was a relative of Catherine da Costa, the artist who painted his portrait. He was the grandfather of Francis Salvador…

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Agunot (Chained Women)

It is said: A thread of grace is spun and drawn out of the deeds of Israel, and the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, in His glory, sits and weaves—strand on strand—a tallit all grace and all mercy…

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Painting of men and women wearily walking through the street.

Le Las (The Weary)

Jules Adler’s many paintings depicting the everyday lives of the working-class in Paris and labor strikes earned him the nickname “the painter of the humble.” Les Las (The Weary) was inspired by a…

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Creator Bio

Catherine da Costa

1679–1756

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 de jongere Lens 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.