The Return of the Volunteer from the Wars of Liberation to His Family Still Living in Accordance with Old Customs (Die Heimkehr des Freiwilligen aus den Befreiungskriegen zu den nach alter Sitte lebenden Seinen)

The Enlightenment of the 18th century and its Jewish counterpart, the Haskalah, resulted in the emancipation of Jews and their subsequent reception into professional fields previously closed to them. No account of this emancipation in Western Europe is complete without a discussion of the painter Moritz Daniel Oppenheim. Through the lifting of restrictions, Oppenheim, an observant Jew, was able to acquire proper academic training and become a professional and highly successful artist.

The Return of the Jewish Volunteer, one of Oppenheim's most significant paintings, is likewise a signal work in the history of the artistic contribution of Jews. It is generally said to represent the first effort of a known Jewish artist to confront a specifically Jewish subject. Like the themes of numerous works of the Romantic School, and more specifically that of Biedermeier painting in Germanic countries, the work falls into the category of historical genre. Oppenheim represents a wounded soldier in a Hussar's uniform who has just returned to his family after helping to defend Germany against the Napoleonic armies. In his haste to be reunited with his family, the young man has, contrary to Jewish law, traveled on the Sabbath.

Love of detail and the petit-bourgeois concerns of the Biedermeier period are evident in this comfortable domestic setting. Jewish ritual objects and foods are carefully depicted in addition to the patriotic portrait of Frederick the Great, ruler of Prussia. The soldier's mother and siblings appear in various states of concern and delight as they fawn over their just-returned relative and simultaneously express admiration for his uniform and other military accoutrements. The father's rapt gaze at his son's Iron Cross, a military decoration which is also a Christian symbol, reveals both pride and skepticism.

The Return of the Jewish Volunteer painted during a period when Jewish civil rights were again in a tenuous state, has been interpreted as a reminder to Germans of the significant role played by Jews in the Wars of Liberation. The subtle political overtones of the painting are indeed unusual in the generally apolitical nature of Biedermeier art.

The departure of the volunteer was a popular theme in early 19th century art and may have served as one source for Oppenheim's inversion of that theme here. He may well have known François Rude's Paris monument, The Departure of the Volunteers, also begun in 1833, along with numerous genre representations of the departure subject executed around the time of the French Revolution. The latter were certainly known to Oppenheim during his earlier stay in Paris around 1820. One of the rare examples of Oppenheim's theme are the numerous drawings for the proposed painting Die Heimkehr der Söhne (The Return of The Sons), c. 1800 by the eminent German artist Philipp Otto Runge (1777-1810). The conception and composition of Runge's work is startlingly similar to Oppenheim's; they both depend compositionally on the numerous popular 18th century interpretations of the Return of the Prodigal Son. It is indeed likely that Oppenheim would have been familiar enough with the oeuvre of the German master to make use of it for reinterpretation.
Oppenheim's privileged life and artistic career are charmingly chronicled in his autobiography, Erinnerungen (Remembrances). The part recording his stay in Rome is a particularly poignant one which details the conflicts of an observant Jew, united with his fellow artists in creative sensibility, but separated from them in his religious beliefs and practices.

Source: Adapted from Norman L. Kleeblatt and Vivian B. Mann. TREASURES OF THE JEWISH MUSEUM. New York: The Jewish Museum, 1986, pp. 148-149.