Portrait of a French rabbi.

Oil on panel. Signed.

A seated rabbi gazing forward, holding a book in his lap, dressed in the characteristic attire of French rabbis – wearing a large round skull cap, a long black coat and a wide white tie.

This painting may have served as a preparatory study for one of Édouard Moyse's genre paintings featuring rabbinic figures, possibly even his well-known work Le Grand Sanhédrin (1867), which depicts the Sanhedrin of Paris convened by order of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Two similar works by Moyse are known: a portrait in the collection of the Museum of Jewish Art and History in Paris (mahJ), item no. 2006.50.001, and another portrait offered for auction at Drouot-Richelieu, Paris, March 23, 2011, Lot 25.

Panel: 21.5X22 cm. Frame: 31X32 cm. Good condition. Minor blemishes.