Schlomé Fuss in the Synagogue France, 19th century

At the Foot of Mt. Sinai

Au pied du Sinaï

Schlomé Fuss in the Synagogue

1898

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

(French, 1864–1901)

France, 19th century

lithograph

Image: 18 x 14.2 cm (7 1/16 x 5 9/16 in.); Sheet: 33.4 x 23.5 cm (13 1/8 x 9 1/4 in.)

Dudley P. Allen Fund 1950.590

Catalogue raisonné: Wittrock Vol.II.192 ; Delteil 239

State: W. I/I ; D. I/I

Location: not on view

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Description

At the Foot of Mount Sinai by politician and journalist Georges Clemenceau collects six short stories about the lives of Jewish characters in the Poland of his time. As he worked on the commission to illustrate the book, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec spent many hours sketching Russian and Polish Jews living in the Tournelle district in Paris, using them as inspiration for his depiction of Clemenceau’s characters, including the Jewish officer in the Russian army and the poor shopkeeper shown here. The book was written and released during France’s Dreyfus affair, a political controversy surrounding false accusations of treason and espionage against Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus. Clemenceau supported Dreyfus and, as editor of the newspaper L’Aurore (Dawn), published several articles defending him.