Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita

Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita was born in a Jewish family on the 6th of June in 1868 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He was a well-known Dutch graphic artist who was mostly active in the year before the Second World War, and he had pupils as the famous graphic artist M.C. Escher

Early life

At the age of fourteen, the young Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita applied to the Rijksakademie in pursuit of his artistic interests, but he was rejected. Deeply disappointed, he apprenticed himself to an acting city architect, for whom he worked for two years before entering a technical school with the intention of becoming an architect himself. He soon turned, however, to the pedagogy and, in 1889, received a teacher's certificate, which would later enable him to support his family.

His artworks and techniques

The years following, Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita principally devoted himself to art, experimenting with various techniques and mediums. Though known primarily for his wood engravings, he also produced etchings, lithographs, watercolours and drawings; his applied art consisted mostly of material designs. There are birds, exotic animals, plants and flowers, and fantastical representations, both humorous and grim. Among Jessurun de Mesquita's most beautiful works are his portraits, particularly his self-portraits.

During the occupied period in the Netherlands, after May 1940, Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita - already not in good health, was forced to lead a secluded life. During this period he was mostly making sketches. 

Concentration Camps

In the winter of 1944, the family of Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita was forced out of their home and deported to Auschwitz. Samuel and his wife Elisabeth were sent to the gas chambers on the day of arrival, their son Jaap died in the concentration camp at Theresienstadt on the 20th of March. Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita was killed on the 11th of February in 1944 at the Nazi extermination and concentration camp Auschwitz.