Creator Bio
Jacques-Émile-Édouard Brandon
1831–1897
Born into a Bordeaux family with Western Sephardic roots, Jacques-Émile-Édouard Brandon studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and initially made his reputation with depictions of Christian subjects, particularly his series on the life of St. Bridget of Sweden. In the 1860s, he shifted markedly to Jewish themes, notably synagogue and classroom scenes, the Sabbath, and portrayals of rabbis with children. While Brandon’s style was academic, he did show his Scene in a Synagogue and other works at what came to be seen as the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris, in 1874.
Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator
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Sermon of the Fast of Av (Synagogue of Amsterdam)
Edouard Brandon’s painting of Amsterdam’s famous Portuguese Synagogue (1675) is set on the Ninth of Av, a fast day commemorating and mourning the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Members of the…
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Heder
Jacques Brandon set his painting of a heder, a traditional Jewish elementary school for boys, in a Mediterranean or Near Eastern location or in an imagined distant past. The boys are dressed in white…
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Silent Prayer, Synagogue of Amsterdam, “The Amidah”
This painting of a service at the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam is similar to a painting for which Jacques-Émile-Edouard Brandon received a medal at the Paris Salon of 1867. Both are views of the…