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This much-celebrated (and widely reproduced) paint- is inscribed with the Hebrew blessing: barukh atah
ing includes many intertextual references to German be-voekha u-varukh atah be-tzetekha, or “Blessed
and Jewish literary, visual and material cultures, which shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt
in this exhibition are illustrated through the books, thou be when thou goest out,” (Deuteronomy 28:6).
manuscripts and objects drawn from the combined This biblical quotation likely refers to the friendship
Magnes and Bancroft collections. between Mendelssohn and Lessing, as well as (in a
rather ironic turn) to the transience of the conflict-
The shape of Mendelssohn’s profile may have been ual relationship between Mendelssohn and Lavater
inspired by the silhouette included in Lavater’s (whose hat and walking stick appear on the lower
Physiognomische Fragmente (1775–1778). The chess right of the painting). On the back wall at the left of
board at the center is likely a visual quotation of the scene hangs a framed mizrach (the Hebrew word
Lessing’s drama, Nathan der Weise (1779), in which the for “East” is faintly legible), a wall-hanging indicating
main character, who is engaged in a game of chess, the direction being faced during prayer according to
was modeled after Mendelssohn. The chess board is the Jewish ritual.
also a “visual pun”: red (on Lavater’s side) has been
put in checkmate by white, in reference to the intellec- The wall hanging, along with the Sabbath lamp hanging
tual superiority attributed to the association between from the ceiling, the Hebrew inscription on the door
Mendelssohn and Lessing over Lavater’s stance. The frame, the head-covering anachronistically placed
open book held by Lavater bears the title, “Bonnet,” in over Mendelssohn’s head (no contemporary icono-
reference to Lavater’s German translation of Charles graphic source depicts Mendelssohn wearing any
Bonnet’s La palingénésie philosophique (1769), which form of head-covering), and possibly the tall untitled
the theologian used to obtain from Mendelssohn a volumes, reminiscent of Talmudic tractates, on the
reply concerning the “essence of Christianity.” shelves in the background, can be seen as attempts
on the part of the painter to interpret Mendelssohn’s
The brass lamp hanging from the ceiling combines a attachment to Judaism through the lenses of the
chandelier (on the top section) with a ritual oil lamp canons of Jewish observance that dominated the
for the Sabbath and festivals (on the lower section). mid-19th century, when the painting was made.
The door frame above the woman entering the room
Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (German, 1800–1882)
Servant with Tray. Study for Lavater and Lessing
Visit Moses Mendelssohn, 1856
Germany, n.d. (ca. 1856)
Pencil on paper
Gift of the Magnes Museum Women’s Guild
75.156, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, The Bancroft Library
Germany - tall case
Wimpels
Sophie Lilienthal
The Lilienthal Family Record
English
San Francisco, “Privately printed” by the H. S. Crocker Co., in an
edition of 50 copies, 1930
CT275.L437 L4 1930, The Bancroft Library
1. Samuel Lilienthal (1815–1891)
n.d.
Photograph
Ernest Lilienthal photograph collection, 1880–1921, BANC PIC 2011.011,
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, The Bancroft
Library
6. Reckendorf, Schoolhouse