Self-Portrait

Jacob Judah Leon Templo, born in Hamburg to a family of former New Christians, became a prominent rabbi, teacher, and scholar of the Netherlands, where he moved at a young age. He was most famous for his models of the Temple of Solomon and Tabernacle of Moses, which were exhibited for many years in traveling exhibitions. He also wrote treatises on the ark and cherubim, which he illustrated himself. Indeed, his models and the pamphlets about them overshadowed all his other works, among them a Spanish poetical translation of Psalms. Leon became acquainted with King Charles II of England while the royal was in exile in Holland, and he visited London in 1675. Leon also drew over two hundred figures and vignettes to illustrate talmudic subjects.