ABRAHAM BAR JACOB

ABRAHAM BAR JACOB (c. 1669–1730), convert to Judaism who worked as a copper engraver in Amsterdam. Born in Germany, Abraham b. Jacob had been a Christian pastor in the Rhineland before converting to Judaism. He was particularly celebrated for his collaboration in the Amsterdam Haggadah of 1695 to which he contributed a series of engravings partly copied from the Icones Biblicae of Mattheus Merian of Basle and a map of Palestine with Hebrew lettering. This work set a new fashion in Haggadot and served as a model for more than 200 years. Abraham b. Jacob's other works include the title pages to joseph b. ephraim caro 's Shulḥan Arukh (1697–98), Isaiah b. Abraham horowitz 's Shenei Luḥot ha-Berit (1698), and Joseph b. Ḥayyim Sarfati's Yad Yosef (1700); an amulet for women in childbirth; and a wall calendar for 130 years with baroque illustrations. The engraving of a portrait of ḥakham isaac aboab da Fonseca of Amsterdam, painted by Joseph b. Abraham, is also ascribed to him. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wolf, Bibliotheca, 3 (1727), 39; Roth, Art, 444, 445, 521. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Yaari, Meḥkarei Sefer (1958), 250–51; H. Brodsky, in Jewish Art, 19 (1993/4), 148–57; idem, in: Journal of the Israel Map Collectors Society, 13 (1996) 37–43.