Austrian School, 18th Century A Portrait of a Gentleman, tho...

Estimate

£10,000 - £15,000

Austrian School, 18th Century
A Portrait of a Gentleman, thought to be Moses Diego Lopez Pereira, 1st Baron d’Aguilar, in an elaborate Coat and a powdered Wig

Oil on canvas

Provenance:  
Ex Collection of Giorgio Forattini, Rome, Italy

Note:   The cropped painting bears the following, indistinct by decipherable, inscription: 

German:  English:

[...JAMIN FREIHERR [...]JAMIN BARON 

[G]EBO[REN]: 5te NOV:1699 BORN: 5th NOV. 1699 

GEST[ORBEN]: 25 OCT 1759. DIED: 25 OCT 1759.

These dates correspond to the life of Moses Diego Lopez Pereira, 1st Baron d’Aguilar, a key figure among Sephardic Jews in 18th Century Vienna and London. He served as a Court Jew in Vienna, playing crucial roles and aiding the Habsburg Court in various capacities, including financial support for monumental constructions like Schönbrunn Palace. Originally from Portugal, his family, like many Sephardic Jews, left Spain to avoid expulsion due to their refusal to convert to Catholicism. He gained the favor of Empress Maria Theresa, becoming a Privy Councillor and playing a vital role in Jewish matters in Vienna.

Under Diego d’Aquilar’s initiative, a secret Sephardic Jewish community in Vienna received permission to have a synagogue. However, when the Spanish inquisition sought his extradition, he lost his Imperial protection, and the d’Aguilar family, who had returned to Judaism openly, had to flee to London. As a parting gesture, they gifted magnificent silver crown pieces to Viennese Turkish Jews for their Torah scrolls, engraved with the d’Aquilar name. His memory is commemorated annually on Yom Kippur.

The significance of the name “...jamin” is unclear, but it might be related to the Tribe of Benjamin, one of the 12 tribes of Israel, to which d’Aguilar belonged.

Dimensions:
(Panel) 31 in. (H) x 22.75 in. (W)