About the Acquisition
Moritz Oppenheim (1800−1882) grew up in the orthodox Jewish milieu of the Jewish quarter in Hanau, which had a lasting influence on him throughout his life. His early talent for drawing led him to the Städel art institute in 1820. He also studied in Paris, Munich and Rome. After his return from Italy, he met Goethe in Weimar. It was through Goethe's mediation that Oppenheim was granted the title of Grand Duke of Weimar Professor. In 1828, he settled in Frankfurt am Main as a painter. There he discovered a genre for himself: the Jewish life in old Frankfurt. Before then, there was practically no painter in Frankfurt who depicted these views for posterity. He created two imperial portraits for the Frankfurter Römer. Oppenheim's heirs donated his "Portrait of a Woman" by Johann Georg von Edlinger (1741−1819) to the Städel Museum in 1919. In 1924, his grandson Alfred Nathaniel Oppenheim published the memoirs of his grandfather.
