Portrait of a Man, Thought to Be Dr. Ephraim Bueno

Rembrandt van Rijn

1645–1647

Rembrandt lived in the part of Amsterdam where the artist’s guild (St. Luke’s Guild) was located; by coincidence, it was home also to a number of Jews. His artworks attest to an interest in the biblical past. This portrait is thought to be of Ephraim Bueno (1599–1665), a prominent member of the Portuguese Jewish congregation, but we do not know what, if any, relationship there might have been between Bueno and Rembrandt. Bueno belonged to a Sephardic family that had settled in the Netherlands. This portrait is one of two extant ones of him by Rembrandt.

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Credits

Rembrandt van Rijn, 1645–1647, Portret van Ephraim Bueno. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

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

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