The Hakham of Mogador

An old man in a black fur hat and a coat collared in thick amber fur, his hands settled low, his eyes level with ours. The beard is white and worked in short, dry strokes; the ground behind him is built from umber, burnt sienna and ochre laid on heavy and then worked back, so the light seems to come from inside the paint rather than from any window in the picture.

The hakhamim of Mogador — the rabbis and scholars of Essaouira — were part of the city’s fabric for centuries, and this portrait belongs to that memory. Not a trader, not a merchant: a man whose authority sits entirely in stillness. Hung low against dark wood or lime plaster, it quiets a room.

Oil and earth pigment on canvas. Signed. Dimensions on request. Wax-sealed certificate of authenticity included.