The Mystery Behind the Vilna Gaon's Portrait

Over twenty years after his passing, the well-known image of the Vilna Gaon was created. Thirty years later, tefillin were added to this portrayal.

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Rabbi Eliyahu, the Gaon of Vilna, was renowned during his lifetime for his immense scholarship across the Jewish world. When he was young, his brilliance was widely discussed in homes throughout Lithuania and Poland. Many desired to have his likeness displayed in their homes. This desire only grew after his passing, and enterprising merchants capitalized on it by distributing various versions of his portrait. Today, there are about 12 portraits attributed to the Vilna Gaon, most of them imaginative and lacking any real foundation.

The most famous image shows the Gaon wearing a tallit and tefillin, holding a book in one hand and a quill in the other, as if writing his insights. To give the portrait an air of authenticity, it was captioned: "This is a true and accurate image, taken from a picture prepared with great effort by Mrs. Miriam Antova, of blessed memory, a granddaughter of the Gaon, and it can still be found today in the home of the Vilner family, descendants of the Gaon, may their memory be blessed."

In fact, it is certainly not an original or real picture. One blurred image was published during the Gaon's lifetime, showing him with a very long beard, without tefillin or a tallit. In 1820, over twenty years after the Gaon's death, a Polish artist named Józef Glosski painted an artistic oil painting of the Gaon. He was depicted dressed in elaborate rabbinic attire, wearing a tall rabbinic hat, with a neat, square beard, and without side curls. The Gaon is shown holding a book in his left hand and a quill in his right. This painting was ordered and distributed by a Jewish patron, but clearly bears no actual resemblance to the Vilna Gaon's true appearance.

Over fifty years later, this image was clumsily copied, with added tefillin and a tallit draped over the grand rabbinic attire. Instead of the difficult-to-draw rabbinic turban, the unskilled painter settled for drawing an oversized yarmulke. This image became the most widespread, even though it is based on a Polish artist's imagination, painted twenty years after the Gaon's death. Thus, there is no certified likeness of the Vilna Gaon from which we can see his features.

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תגיות:Jewish history Vilna Gaon art

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