Oil on canvas. Recent frame.

A strongly atmospheric genre scene, that captures the shock and fear of a Marrano family upon discovery by Spanish military officials. The candles in the hanging chandelier and in the candelabra snatched from the table flicker and wane, suggesting the gusts of wind bursting upon the room. At the top of the table, the leader of the family wearing his customary white Kittel, grips the arms of his chair and leans forward, in a rising motion. The gentleman at centre instinctively rushes to hide the ceremonial objects from the view of the intruders. The lady to his left tumbles from her seat, while in the foreground, her kinswoman has fainted in fright. The far right of the picture presents the Spanish soldiers storming the room, it is likely they are from an earlier study for the work, here, Maimon intends to focus on the Marrano’s terror as they become aware of their dangerous predicament. The repose and facial expression of members of the Marrano family is reminiscent of the terror of Belshazzar and his table in Rembrandt’s “Writing on the Wall” (National Gallery, London). An extraordinary link between the past portrayed in Maimon’s painting and the artist’s problematic Jewish present exists. Maimon experienced a similar outrage at a Passover Seder in St. Petersburg, disrupted by the police because such an observance was prohibited outside the Pale of Settlement. Maimon resolved to produce a painting on the topic, however his teachers at the Imperial Academy of Art, St. Petersburg, persuaded him to abandon the idea, as such a subject would never be accepted for exhibition. As the time coincided with the 400th Anniversary of the Jews’ Expulsion from Spain, Maimon decided to dress his contemporary subjects in historic disguise “to dress the personages in Spanish costumes and to move the event historically backwards by 400 years, “ he wrote. The Russian critics immediately apprehended the meaning of the painting. It was decried as a “crowd of criminals” deceiving the Spanish Christian government. The Academy thus abrogated the honor to purchase the painting stating that it was an anti-Christian work of art. “The analysis of the content of Maimon’s “Marranos” as well as the history of the painting allows us to understand both Maimon’s position as a Jewish artist and the goals he posed for himself.” See H. Kazovsky, Journal of Jewish Art vol. XXI-XII (1995-6) Jewish Artists in Russia at the Turn of the Century: Issues of National Self-Identification in Art (1995-6) pp.30-3; cf. H. Kazovsky, Jewish Artists from Vitebsk (1992) illustrated p.34 (“location unknown”). With grateful thanks to Dr. Hillel Kazovsky, Department of Modern Art, Hebrew University, Jerusalem for his assistance and research.