Jews in a Synagogue

Thriving Amsterdam boasted a rare level of openness and tolerance in the seventeenth century. This made for an unusually rich cultural life, with Jewish and Protestant communities living alongside Catholic and Muslim ones. Rembrandt was very interested in the city's Jewish residents; author Simon Schama notes that the artist modeled the features of David, Matthew, and Jesus in some of his paintings after his Jewish neighbors on the Breestraat, where he lived. Although Jews in a Synagogue seems to have been recorded from life, Rembrandt actually mixed genre with history. The structure is unlike any known Amsterdam synagogue, and the turban on the seated man conflicts with the traditional Ashkenazi dress of the other men.