Rembrandt, The Jews and the Bible

The author, Dr. Franz Landsberger, himself a fugitive from Nazi terror, wrote this book to share with his readers the solace which he found during the years of persecution in the contemplation of a great artist of Germanic ancestry who had lived for many years among Jews, and who had portrayed them with sympathy. Furthermore, since Rembrandt had always been a devoted reader of the Bible, and one of its most original illustrators, Dr. Landsberger devotes around half of his book to a discussion of Rembrandt’s representation of biblical, or more precisely, Old Testament scenes.

“These considerations influenced me to prepare the following pages, which do not present the whole of Rembrandt, but merely that phase of his life and work which has bearing upon his relation to the Jews and to their Holy Scriptures. This phase, however, should prove the more deeply satisfying to us, because it lay not upon the periphery of his personality, but at its very core. For this reason I offer the present work to the consideration of those who, like myself, aspire to a deeper understanding of the phenomenon that was Rembrandt.” (From the Author’s Foreword)