Samuel Hirszenberg (1865 - 1908), Spinoza hatched - sketch for a painting, 1906

pastel, cardboard; 48.2 x 62.5 cm;
Signed and dated p. d.: "S. Hirszenberg 906." (in pencil);
on the reverse, designation: "35"

Provenance:
private collection, Poland

A year before the oil version of this composition, Hirszenberg prepares a full-scale painting sketch. At the end of his life, the artist evokes the figure of a Dutch philosopher with Jewish roots, who is excluded from the Jewish community for his views and placed under a curse. Benedict (formerly Baruch) Spinoza considered, among other things, issues of freedom of conscience or the relationship between power and politics. Disqualifying him in the eyes of Orthodox Jewish circles was, for example, his view of questioning the divine act of creation or waiting for the coming of the Messiah. In the work described here, Hirszenberg builds the composition on the principle of contrast: a solitary, immersed figure of Spinoza in the foreground, with clearly defined contours, and a group of angry Jews in the background, merging into a fairly unified form. A confrontation of the old and new worlds. The painterly artistry and strong symbolic charge make this one of the most interesting works from the artist's mature period. "Spinoza Accursed" painted on canvas is held in its collection by the A. A. Dejneka Painting Gallery in Kursk.