A synagogue interior: the Askenazi synagogue, The Hague

As from 1850, Johannes Bosboom started to paint synagogues in both The Hague and Amsterdam. The interior of the Ashkenazi synagogue in the Wagenstraat, The Hague, was painted from this specific angle on at least four occasions, ranging from detailed and elaborate renderings (Anon. sale, Amsterdam 8 July 1941, lot 41) to sketchy and coarse impressions (F. Leeman a.o., Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings Museum Mesdag, Zwolle 1996, cat.no. 40, pp. 111 and 358). The present lot bears the most similarities to a painting in the collection of the Dordrechts Museum (Dordrechts Museum, Catalogus der Kunstwerken, 1928, cat.no. 35, p. 14, ill. IX) in which the same Rembrandtesque chiaroscuro effects enhance the mystical and religous atmosphere of the proceeding service. E. van Schendel suggests that both pictures were painted by Bosboom after 1876 as that was the year in which the white paintlayer of the central ark was removed. (E. van Schendel, 1975, pp. 46-47). The ark itself, decorated with Louis XIV ornaments, once belonged to the synagogue on the Voldersgracht and dates from 1722. The upper part was donated by Chajim Boas in 1739 and the copper crowns already belonged to the Portugese synagogue on the Lange Voorhout in the 18th century. The Ashkenazi or Grote synangogue itself was inaugurated in 1844 (see for further information D.S. Van-Zuiden, De Hoogduitsche Joden in 's Gravenhage, 1913).