Baruch Lopes Leão de Laguna (16 February 1864,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

– 19 November 1943,

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

) was a Dutch painter of Portuguese-Jewish ancestry; associated with the Laren School. He is known primarily for portraits,

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

scenes and

still-life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, boo ...

s of flowers. He and his wife were both murdered in

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

Biography

P-buruch-lopes-de-leao-laguna-self-portrait-n-d-joods-historisch-museum-via-philosemitism

He was born to a

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

family that originally came from Portugal. Both of his parents died when he was eleven and he was placed in an orphanage operated by the

Portuguese Synagogue The Portuguese Synagogue, also known as the Esnoga, or Snoge, is a late 17th-century Sephardic synagogue in Amsterdam, completed in 1675. ''Esnoga'' is the word for synagogue in Judaeo-Spanish, the traditional Judaeo-Spanish language of Sephardi ...

of Amsterdam.Brief biography
@ Philosemitism blog. During his stay there, he began making sketches. His talent was noticed and, at the age of fourteen, he began training as a decorative painter at the Quellinusschool. He then transferred to the Dutch State Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied with

August Allebé August Allebé (19 April 1838 – 10 January 1927) was an artist and teacher from the Northern Netherlands. His early paintings were in a romanticism, romantic style, but in his later work he was an exponent of realism (arts), realism and impress ...

, among others.Brief biography
@ the De Valk Lexicon of painters from Laren-Blaricum. At seventeen, he left the orphanage and opened a studio in the

Plantage Plantage is a neighbourhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands located in its Centrum borough. It is bordered by the Entrepotdok to the north, Plantage Muidergracht to the east and south and Nieuwe Herengracht to the west. In the centre of the neighbourhoo ...

neighborhood of the

Jodenbuurt The Jodenbuurt ( Dutch: ''Jewish neighbourhood'') is a neighbourhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands. For centuries before World War II, it was the center of the Dutch Jews of Amsterdam — hence, its name (literally '' Jewish quarter''). It is best ...

. He also worked in the studios of

Meijer de Haan Meijer Isaac de Haan (Amsterdam, April 14, 1852 – Amsterdam, October 24, 1895) was a Dutch painter. In French the name was written Meyer de Haan. Biography He was born into a successful Jewish family of bread and matzo bakers who held to conse ...

and provided illustrations for magazines. A drawing on the first page of the monthly '' Elsevier's Geïllustreerd Maandschrift'' introduced him to the general public. In 1885, he was given an exhibition at

Arti et Amicitiae Arti et Amicitiae (lat .: For Art and Friendship) is a Dutch artist's society founded in 1839, and located on the Rokin in Amsterdam. The Society (also called Arti for short) has played a key role in the Netherlands art scene and in particular i ...

which was well received. In 1895, he married Rosie Asscher, the daughter of a

diamond cutter Diamond cutting is the practice of shaping a diamond from a rough stone into a faceted gem. Cutting diamonds requires specialized knowledge, tools, equipment, and techniques because of its extreme difficulty. The first guild of diamond cutters and ...

from London. Three years later, they moved to Laren where he became associated with the Laren School. Later, they lived in neighboring

Blaricum Blaricum () is a municipality and village in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. It is part of the region of Gooiland and part of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (Metropoolregio Amsterdam). It is known for its many monumental farm buil ...

and he eventually opened a studio in Laren in 1905. He focused on portraits; notably those of Prime Minister

Hendrikus Colijn Hendrikus "Hendrik" Colijn (22 June 1869 – 18 September 1944) was a Dutch politician of the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP; now defunct and merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal or CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from ...

Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis Ferdinand Jacobus Domela Nieuwenhuis (31 December 1846 – 18 November 1919) was a Dutch socialist politician and later a social anarchist and anti-militarist. He was a Lutheran preacher who, after he lost his faith, started a political fight f ...

and

Henri Deterding Henri Wilhelm August Deterding, KBE (19 April 1866 – 4 February 1939) was one of the first executives of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and was its general manager for 36 years, from 1900 to 1936, and was also chairman of the combined Royal D ...

. His wife was in poor health, so he also created numerous still lifes of flowers in vases while looking after her. In 1934, a major exhibition was held at the Hotel Hamdorff in Laren; a notable meeting place for artists. When his son, Martijn, was killed in a motorcycle accident, he became thoroughly absorbed in his work. In 1941, the ''Jüdische Wochenblatt Amsterdam'' described him as a modest man of high standards who opposed injustice. Following the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

, he was able to maintain a low profile at an isolated farm in Laren for a few years. However, in 1943, he and Rosie were tracked down and taken to Auschwitz. He was murdered later that year and she followed early the next year.

Selected paintings

Sally Berg (Laguna, Baruch 1922).jpg, Fashion designer
File:P-portret van Evert Pieters.jpg,

Evert Pieters Evert Pieters (11 December 1856, Amsterdam - 17 February 1932, Laren) was a Dutch painter, known primarily for landscapes and interiors. Biography He was born to a poor family and was apprenticed to a house painter at an early age. At the ag ...

File:Laguna-Feeding the Kitten.jpg, Feeding the Kitten File:Laguna-Man reading the Gooi-en Eemlander.jpg, Man Reading the '

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Laguna.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laguna, Baruch 1864 births 1943 deaths 19th-century Dutch painters 20th-century Dutch painters Painters from Amsterdam Dutch genre painters Dutch male painters Dutch Sephardi Jews Dutch people of Portuguese-Jewish descent Dutch people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp Dutch still life painters Jewish painters Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni Dutch Jews who died in the Holocaust Sephardi Jews who died in the Holocaust 19th-century male artists Dutch people executed in Nazi concentration camps