Jewish woman in Cairo

Cornelis de Bruyn

1714

Image

Print of seated person in large hat and robes facing to the left smoking a very long pipe. — This engraving depicting a Jewish woman 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. mitsg. de voornaamste steden van Aegypten, Syrien en Palestina*, 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 endroits 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, 714), p. 220. Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

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

Jewish Woman in Izmir, Turkey.

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…

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Printed page of Latin text, with portrait of man in center, surrounded by wreath with cherubs, and Latin text in decorative frame below.

Dialoghi di m. Magino Gabrielli Hebreo, sopra l’utile sue inventioni circa la seta (Dialogues of Magino Gabrielli, Hebrew, On the Utility of His Inventions in Silk Production)

Dialoghi di m. Magino Gabrielli Hebreo, sopra l’utile sue inventioni circa la seta (Dialogues of Magino Gabrielli, Hebrew, On the Utility of His Inventions in Silk Production), printed in Rome, is a…

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Painting of women, men, and children crowded together.

Refugees, Warsaw Ghetto

This watercolor sketch of uprooted Jews arriving in the Warsaw Ghetto was one of many artworks Rynecki made while incarcerated there. Before the war, many of his paintings documented the vibrancy of…

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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.