The Jewish Cemetery is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael, now at the Detroit Institute of Arts. While growing up in Haarlem, his father, Isaak van Ruisdael, and uncle Salomon van Ruisdael taught him painting. The Jewish Cemetery is an allegorical painting depicting hope and death, while also depicting Beth Haim, a cemetery located on Amsterdam's outskirts. Beth Haim is a prominent resting place for Amsterdam's large Jewish Portuguese community. The tomb monuments depicted commemorate the leaders of the newly arrived Portuguese-Jewish community. The central elements of the painting, however, are different than one would see in Ouderkerk, as Ruisdael made adjustments to achieve the painting's compositional and allegorical intent. This painting is twice as large as the typical landscape painting from the 17th century. After being cataloged in England in 1835, the artwork, The Jewish Cemetery, disappeared from public display for many years, before coming back on the radar through various auctions in London and Berlin. The Detroit Institute of Arts acquired the painting in 1926 when it was gifted by Julius H. Haass, in memory of his brother.
Jacob van Ruisdael painted two versions of The Jewish Cemetery in 1653 and 1655 and was said to be in his mid-twenties, according to Erich Simon.
Subject and symbols
In his painting, Jacob van Ruisdael presents the cemetery as a landscape variant of a vanitas painting. Vanitas paintings tend to be still-life's or genre scenes, with skulls, books, flowers, and candles are common subjects in this theme. Similarly, Jacob van Ruisdael used deserted tombs, ravaged churches, stormy clouds, dead trees, changing skies, and flowing water to symbolize death and the transience of all earthly things.
The building foundations are overrun by leafy foliage arising from decaying wood in the foreground. In the artwork, there are many symbols of death. As the brook rushes over large stones under the broken arch, it symbolizes life's fast-flowing flow. Similarly, it corresponds to light beams that break through billowing rain or storm clouds in the upper sphere. The upright but broken column, here presented as a half-cylinder, signifies death. In addition to serving as a memento mori, a reminder of death's inevitability, the painting also contains themes of hope and renewal. Water constantly flows, changes, and regenerates in the stream, symbolizing life while the decaying tree bending over it represents death's inevitable arrival. Although the rainbow has many meanings, it is generally regarded as a symbol of hope and divine promise. At the top of the picture, the curve in the rainbow arc, is like a bridge to the heavens. It has also been theorized to symbolize the renewal of life, connecting the work to a theological message, as rabbis have said that the resurrection of the dead would be the first sign that the moshiach (the anointed one from the House of David) is coming. This message would be clear to Portuguese Jews, who would wait for this event within Beth Chaim, the cemetery that the tombs depicted in this painting are located in. It is possible that this added meaning would have been at the direction of a patron, though it is unknown who, if anyone, commissioned the painting. Nature revitalizes and replenishes neglected areas as they become submerged in encroaching woodland over time.
Tombs
Ruisdael's paintings depicts numerous tombs in his work that were pulled from what he would have seen when visiting Beth Hamin. These were the first Portuguese settlers in Amsterdam at the time, many of whom were from old families that had obtained wealth and noble titles before coming to Amsterdam. In the illuminated white marble tombstone, adorned with a large stone box and colorful cap, lie the remains of Elias (or Eliahu) Montalto. Dr. Eliahu Montalto's first name is spelled out in an acrostic poem on the vertical rear plate. Inscribed on the marble slab are Hebrew block letters. Dr. Montalto was the physician to Maria de' Medici and upon his death in 1616 he was brought to Ouderkerk for burial.