Portrait of a Rabbi

This contemplative work, one of Naviasky’s finest portraits, shows a Rabbi, depicted in half-length, dressed in the white robes of the ten days of Penitence. Presented from the estate of the late art historian Brian Sewell (1931- 2015), it dates from Naviasky’s studies at the Royal Academy Schools. It was first exhibited at the Ben Uri Story exhibition in Bond Street, London in 2001 with an essay by Brian Sewell on the cultural contribution of the generation of 1933-45 Jewish émigrés.