SCHATZ, BORIS.

Israel 1867-1932

Large bronze relief, ‘Jeremiah.’ On lower register prophet’s name engraved in Hebrew, and further, on right, Hebrew verse: “Oh that my head were water and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.” (Jeremiah, 8:23). Set in fine, later copper frame handsomely styled in the Bezalel fashion, reiterating the above verse.

The Prophet Jeremiah perhaps best known for authoring the Book of Lamentations was tasked with confronting and reproving the Jewish People, seeking - and failing - to prevent the oncoming destruction of Jerusalem. Schatz’s emotional depiction shows the bereaved prophet, seated on the floor as a mourner, with head in hand, writing a scroll - likely Lamentations - a poetic, largely-acrostic record of lament for the destruction and ultimately the temporary desertion and rejection of God’s Spirit. The quote from the Book of Jeremiah would subsequently be adopted in the Tisha B’Av liturgy, as the title of the 25th Kinna.