Edouard Moyse (French, 1827-1908)

Lot description

Edouard Moyse (French, 1827-1908) Edouard Moyse (French, 1827-1908) 'La Bénédiction de l'Aïeul' (The Blessing of the Ancestor) signed 'Moyse' l.l., oil on canvas 77 x 118cm Edouard Moyse was a Jewish painter from Nancy who specialised in painting scenes of Jewish life. This painting is of the Kiddush, the sanctification/benediction. Although the Sabbath comes round every week, it is nevertheless holier than most of the great religious festivals that occur during the rest of the year; it marks the end of the sixth day of Creation, when God rested from all his labours, and is sanctified with the Shabbat meal usually after synagogue on Friday evening. Shabbat, like all other religiously observed dates, begins, not on Saturday morning, but at sunset on the Friday evening, and ends with the sighting of the first star on Saturday evening. It marks the day when Jews should refrain from all forms of work, physical activity like carrying, playing a sport, entertainment and so on. The day should be spent in contemplation, enjoying family life, and religious study. The pater familias is on the left, reciting or singing the Kiddush, and when he is finished, he sips from the goblet, then pours some into each of the other persons’ glasses - that would include family as well as guests, and indeed many families today, especially Levantine Jews, still set an extra place for an unknown guest. After the wine, the father and the males older than 13 wash their hands, and return to the table to say the benediction over the bread (…and God brought forth bread from the Earth), before breaking the bread - not cutting it, because that would be an act of labour - and giving each person a piece, having sprinkled it with salt, which is to remind us that, on being banished from the Garden of Eden, we had to thereafter labour by the sweat of our brow. In the present painting, the father, while saying the Kiddush, is resting his hand on the Challa, the bread, ready for the next blessing. We are grateful to Joseph Mankowitz for his assistance with the catalogue entry.