b'Lot 219 Lot 220219 SCHMIDT, GEORG FRIEDRICH. Rabbi Michel (Jechiel) Hirsch (1722-80). Three-quarter length etching, featuring the bearded Rabbi of Potsdam wearing a fur hat and a fur-trimmed coat, with hands joined. 5 x 6.5 inches (12.7 x 16.4 cm). Matted. [Rubens, Jewish Iconography no. 1882.] Berlin, 1762. $5000 - $7000THE FIRST RABBINICAL PORTRAIT IN WESTERN ART. Although long thought that Rembrandts portrait of Menasseh ben Israel was the earliest Rabbinic portrait in the Western art, art historians generally now agree that Menasseh was not in fact the subject of that particular portrait. It is the present particular portrait, the rst Rabbi in Potsdam, that take the place of honor. Theinscriptionbelowtheportraitreadsintranslation:HirschMichelpresentsto IsaacOnisbyAaronMonceca(referencingapopular18thcenturynovelaboutJews). Theartist,GeorgFriedrichSchmidt(1712-75)studiedartinBerlinunderBusch,andunderNicolas Larmessin in Paris. In 1744 he was appointed engraver to Frederick II in Berlin, and in 1757 was summoned to Saint Petersburg by the Empress Elizabeth to engrave her portrait and organize a school of engraving. His engravings in the style of Rembrandt are considered to be among the greatest of 18th century Germany.See Phillip Greenspan and Annelies Mondi, What Was the First Notable Rabbinical Portrait in Western Art? (Jewish Action, Spring, 2017).220 JOSEPH, RABBI JACOB. Half-length portrait, facing right. Oil painting on panel, signature in red (indecipherable) lower right. Expertly retouched in places. Contemporary gilt frame. 15.5 x 20 inches.$4000 - $6000PROVENANCE:From the Estate of Chief Rabbi Josephs great grand-daughter. Rabbi Yaakov Yoseph (1848-1902) studied at the Yeshiva of Volozhin, before his appointment as Rabbi of Vilna in 1883. In 1888 he was called to the United States to assume the newly created post of Chief Rabbi of the Orthodox Congregations of Russian Jews in New York City. However due to the tragedy of his experiences at the hands of New York Jewry, he would be the rst and the last Rav Hakollel - Chief Rabbi of New York. See Yonah Landau, The Rav Hakolel and His Generation: A Biography of Yaakov Yosef Chief Rabbi of New York and His Battles for Yiddishkeit at the Turn of the Century (2011).110'