A Family Genealogy: Samuel Beals and Rebekah Wilkerson were Married the 16th July 1778.

(AMERICAN-JUDAICA)

Boston

1795

Manuscript ink on paper. Signed and dated by artist lower left: “Isaac N. Cardozo, Boston Massachusetts 1795.”

A rare and exceptional example of artwork by an accomplished 18th century American Jew. Veteran of the Revolutionary War, Isaac Nunez Cardozo, (1751-1832) lived in Philadelphia where he was an active member of Congregation Mikveh Israel. An accomplished calligrapher and artist he composed this intricate family register for Samuel Beals, his wife Rebekah Wilkerson and their nine children and probably commissioned following Samuel Beal’s death. It is interesting to note that the Beals named their youngest child after the artist, likely a testament to the close friendship between patron and artist. The genealogy is depicted in the form of a Masonic Trestle Board, depicting in an architectural arch punctuated throughout with some 28 symbols of Freemason iconography: The 47th Problem of Euclid, the Letter G, the Omniscient Eye, the Gavel, the Beehive, Mosaic Pavement and the Square and Compasses. Records of the Rising States Masonic Lodge list Samuel Beals as a member in 1794. Isaac Nunez Cardozo was the great-grandfather of the noted American jurist, Benjamin Nathan Cardozo (1870-1938). See Jewish Museum New York, The Jewish Heritage in American Folk Art (1984) no. 14.