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Portrait of Rachel da Costa with the Child Catharina Suasso
Catherine da Costa
1745
Here, Catherine da Costa, the first known female Jewish painter, has painted her daughter and granddaughter to resemble a Madonna and child. An unidentified woman leans over the infant, seemingly about to offer her a basket of flowers.
Here, Catherine da Costa, the first known female Jewish painter, has painted her daughter and granddaughter to resemble a Madonna and child. An unidentified woman leans over the infant, seemingly about to offer her a basket of flowers.
Among the portrait miniatures of family members that Catherine da Costa painted is this locket portrait of her son, Abraham da Costa (b. 1704), when he was ten years old.
In this baroque Christian altarpiece that Anton Raphael Mengs painted for the Catholic church, the Colegiata of Castrojeriz, which is near Burgos, Spain, the Madonna is holding an open book. The angel…
Early in his career, Jacob Meyer de Haan (also known as Isaac Meyer de Haan) was known for his Jewish genre paintings. In this one, painted in 1880 while de Haan still resided in the Netherlands, a…
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.
Among the portrait miniatures of family members that Catherine da Costa painted is this locket portrait of her son, Abraham da Costa (b. 1704), when he was ten years old.
In this baroque Christian altarpiece that Anton Raphael Mengs painted for the Catholic church, the Colegiata of Castrojeriz, which is near Burgos, Spain, the Madonna is holding an open book. The angel…
Early in his career, Jacob Meyer de Haan (also known as Isaac Meyer de Haan) was known for his Jewish genre paintings. In this one, painted in 1880 while de Haan still resided in the Netherlands, a…