Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (1800 - 1882)

Moritz Daniel Oppenheim

Moritz Daniel Oppenheim was a nineteenth-century German painter of Jewish descent. He is known as a painter and the first major Jewish artist to consciously remain Jewish.

Oppenheim created a series of paintings with themes from Jewish life. His paintings combined elements of academicism and romanticism. His portraits are particularly well known, including those of Goethe, L. Byrne, and other notables. Oppenheim enjoyed popularity during his lifetime, despite the anti-Semitic policies of the government. In 1900, an exhibition of his paintings was organized to commemorate the centenary of his birth. Some of his works were destroyed during the Nazi period, but some are in various museums and private collections, including the Israel Museum.