Portret van Jacob Jehuda Leon 1641

This is a portrait of Jacob Jehuda Leon, made in 1641 by Conrad Buno, using etching. The print presents us with questions about the status of Jewish scholars in 17th-century Europe. The lettering surrounding Leon's portrait announces his authority on the structure of the Temple of Solomon, an interest which would have held particular significance in the Dutch Republic, which saw itself as a 'new Jerusalem'. We might ask, therefore, what was the function of this image? Was it an advertisement for Leon’s expertise, or was it a celebration of Jewish intellectual life at a time of relative tolerance? To get a firmer grasp on this image, one could look into the history of Jewish scholarship in the Netherlands, and archival research into the patronage networks that enabled the production and circulation of prints like this. Only then can we more fully understand the social life of this image.