635 - Moritz Daniel Oppenheim

Moritz Daniel Oppenheim 1800 Hanau – 1882 Frankfurt am Main – “Lady with a Parrot” – (1864) Oil on wood. 50.2 x 39.5 cm. 78 x 70 cm (including frame). Monogram on the right side of the birdcage: MO (ligated). Decorative frame with plaque. Color loss around the edges. - Provenance: Private collection, Berlin. Private collection, Bad Harzburg (inherited in 1976/1977). Private collection, Hanover (inherited in 2020). - We thank Mr. Erik Riedel, Frankfurt, for his helpful scholarly insights. - Bibliography: Moritz Daniel Oppenheim. The Discovery of Jewish Self-Consciousness in Art. Edited by Georg Heuberger and Anton Merk. Exhibition catalog, Jewish Museum of the City of Frankfurt am Main. December 16, 1999 – April 2, 2000. Frankfurt 1999, Genre and Mythology, No. V 33 (p. 372). - A certificate from the Art Loss Register (ALR Ref: S00277168), London, dated October 15, 2026, is available. Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (1800–1882) is considered Germany’s first academically trained Jewish painter. After studying in Munich, Paris, and Rome, he settled in Frankfurt am Main, where he quickly became a sought-after portraitist, not least for the Rothschild family. At Goethe’s recommendation, the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar conferred upon him the title of professor. Oppenheim’s career exemplifies the cultural emancipation of the Jewish middle class in the 19th century. Unlike many Jewish artists of his generation, Oppenheim remained faithful to his faith throughout his life. With his “Pictures from Old Jewish Family Life,” he created a seminal work of Jewish cultural history that bridges the European painting tradition with Jewish identity. The “Lady with a Parrot,” painted in 1864, reveals the other, secular side of his work—and it was created during precisely the same years in which he was working on his famous cycle. A young woman sits in an armchair wearing a red velvet coat trimmed with fur. With a slightly mocking glance, she turns toward the bird in a golden cage and offers it a treat. Playing cards rest in her other hand; a small dog sleeps at her feet; and to the left, the view opens up to a vast landscape. Oppenheim thus takes up a popular motif of 17th-century Dutch fine art. The contrast between the caged bird and the open window can be read as an allusion to both longing and domestic ties. The masterful rendering of the fabrics—velvet, fur, lace—attests to Oppenheim’s painterly mastery. Signed on the birdcage and listed in the 1999 Frankfurt exhibition catalog, the work is a characteristic example of Oppenheim’s genre painting.