Portrait of Doctor Abraham Zacutus

Salomon Saveri

1634

Print portrait of bearded man in circular frame with Latin text encircling him and in frame below.

This is an image of the physician Abraham Zacutus, of Amsterdam. A physician and writer of medical works, Abraham Zacutus was born in Lisbon and later studied medicine in Coimbra and Salamanca, in Spain. The descendant of a distinguished New Christian family, Abraham, also known as Manuel Alvares de Tavara, practiced medicine in Lisbon for almost thirty years. In 1625, he settled in Amsterdam, where he practiced Judaism openly and acquired fame as a physician. The Latin words surrounding the portrait bear the subject’s name and the date (1634); there is an additional Latin inscription underneath. Nicolaus Fontanus, who wrote the inscription in Latin describing the work of Zacutus, was himself a doctor who published an important medical book in 1639. Salomon Saveri, the Dutch engraver and printer, was responsible for this portrait of Zacutus. Another portrait of him was made in 1667 and printed in the frontispiece of one of his posthumously published books, Opera Omnia: de Medicorum Principum Historia, a catalogue of known diseases.

Credits

Salomon Savery, Portret van de arts Abraham Zacutus Lusitanus, 1634. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

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

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