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Self Portrait by Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita
In the Loge by Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita
Woman with a Hat Box by Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita

Where to See Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita

3 museums worldwide

About Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita

Dutch · 1868–1944

Escher's teacher, whose rescued prints still bear the boot prints of the soldiers who deported him to Auschwitz

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Portrait of Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita
Museums3
Countries2
Largest reported holdingMuseum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam · 3 recorded works
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Where to see Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita

Collection holdings are reported here; current display varies. Check with each museum before visiting.

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Hand-finished archival prints from Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita's body of work.

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • Where can I see Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita's work?
    You can find examples of Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita's work in a number of collections. Within the United Kingdom, these include the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery (located in the Royal Pavilion Gardens, Brighton), the Geffrye Museum (Kingsland Road, London), the Manchester Art Gallery (Mosley Street, Manchester), the National Museums of Scotland, Royal Museum (Chambers Street, Edinburgh), and the Victoria & Albert Museum (Cromwell Road, London). In the United States, collections holding his works are the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art (Winter Park, Florida), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Wolfsonian at Florida International University (Miami Beach). His work can also be seen at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.
  • Why are Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita's works important today?
    Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita was a Dutch artist working in printmaking, drawing, and applied arts. He is remembered both for his artistic output and for his tragic fate during the Second World War. Born in Amsterdam in 1868, Mesquita developed a unique style. This style combined elements of symbolism and Art Nouveau with a personal vision. He produced woodcuts, lithographs, and drawings, often featuring animals, portraits, and scenes from nature. His work displays a strong sense of design and a mastery of technique. Mesquita taught at the School for Applied Arts in Haarlem. One of his students was M. C. Escher, who acknowledged Mesquita's influence on his own development. Escher greatly admired his teacher's technical skill and artistic vision. Despite his artistic achievements, Mesquita's career was cut short by the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. As a Jew, he was persecuted and eventually deported to Auschwitz, where he was murdered in 1944, along with his wife. The rediscovery of a cache of his prints, hidden by friends during the war, helped to preserve his artistic output. His life and work are a reminder of the impact of war on individual lives and artistic expression.
  • Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita?
    Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita was born in Amsterdam in 1868. He was of Portuguese Sephardic Jewish origin and was not religiously observant despite his background.
  • What techniques or materials did Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita use?
    Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita was a graphic artist who worked primarily with woodcuts and lithography. He also made a few etchings and drawings. Mesquita's early prints show an interest in textures and patterns. His woodcuts often feature strong contrasts between light and dark areas. He sometimes printed his woodcuts in colour, using multiple blocks. After 1920, Mesquita began to experiment with abstraction. His later lithographs are characterised by simplified forms and geometric shapes. These works show the influence of Expressionism and Art Deco. Mesquita taught graphic arts at the School for Applied Arts in Haarlem, where he mentored artists such as M. C. Escher. Escher learned the techniques of woodcut and linocut from Mesquita. He also adopted Mesquita's meticulous approach to printmaking.
  • Who influenced Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita?
    Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita (1868-1944) was a Dutch artist working in printmaking, drawing, and related media. He taught graphic arts at the School of Architecture in Haarlem from 1902 to 1904, and at the Academy for Visual Arts in Amsterdam from 1904 until 1935. Mesquita's early work shows the influence of Dutch Symbolism and Art Nouveau. Some have noted the impact of Jan Toorop (1858-1928), a Dutch-Indonesian painter who worked in a Symbolist style. Toorop is known for his stylised, linear compositions and the use of Javanese motifs. These elements appear in Mesquita's work from the 1890s and early 1900s. Mesquita's later work moved away from these influences. He began to focus on animal studies, portraiture, and still lifes. These later prints and drawings show a greater emphasis on realism and close observation. Some have seen the influence of Japanese prints on his compositions, especially in his animal studies. However, this is less pronounced than the earlier Symbolist influence. He is known as a teacher of important graphic artists, including M. C. Escher.
  • What is Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita's most famous work?
    Although Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita produced a substantial body of graphic work, no single piece is universally acknowledged as his "most famous". He is, however, best known for his woodcuts and linocuts of animals, especially birds, and for his portraits. De Mesquita taught graphic techniques at the School for Applied Arts in Haarlem from 1902 to 1904. Among his pupils were Maurits Cornelis Escher, who credited de Mesquita with teaching him the fundamentals of printmaking, and printing from wood and linoleum blocks. Escher remained a friend and visited de Mesquita frequently until the older artist's death in 1944. His work can be found in several major collections, including the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the British Museum, London. These collections hold a variety of his prints, drawings, and other works, offering a view of his artistic development and range.
  • What style or movement did Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita belong to?
    Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita is not easily categorised within a single artistic movement. However, his work has some connections with aspects of Expressionism and the Dutch movement known as Bergen School. Expressionism, which peaked in the early 20th century, aimed to present the world from a subjective perspective, distorting it for emotional effect. De Mesquita's woodcuts, with their bold lines and stark contrasts, share some stylistic similarities with Expressionist prints. The Bergen School was a group of Dutch artists working from around 1915 to 1925, based in and around the town of Bergen in North Holland. They reacted against Impressionism, developing a more sombre, expressive style with simplified forms. De Mesquita knew some of these artists, and his work shares some aesthetic qualities with theirs. Although not strictly belonging to either movement, de Mesquita's art aligns with certain elements of both. His individual style makes precise classification difficult.
  • What was Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita known for?
    Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita (1868-1944) was a Dutch artist, known mainly for his graphic work. He produced woodcuts, lithographs, and etchings. His subject matter included animals, portraits, and plant studies. Mesquita taught at the School for Applied Arts in Haarlem, where he influenced a number of students, including M. C. Escher. Escher credited Mesquita with teaching him the technical skills of printmaking and with encouraging his artistic development. Although Mesquita's earlier work showed art nouveau influences, he later developed a more personal style, characterised by strong lines and bold contrasts. His work often had a somewhat dark or macabre quality. Mesquita was of Portuguese-Jewish descent. During the Second World War, he and his family were arrested by the Nazis. They were deported to Auschwitz, where they died in 1944. As a result, much of his work was lost or destroyed. However, a collection of his prints is held by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Sources

Where to See guide aggregates verified holdings of Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita's works across the following collections.

  1. [1] museum Harvard Art Museums Used for: museum holdings.
  2. [2] book Steven Nadler, Rembrandt's Jews Used for: biography.
  3. [3] book 1892-1968, Panofsky, Erwin,, Tomb sculpture: four lectures on its changing aspects from ancient Egypt to Bernini Used for: biography.

Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-10-14. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.

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