Lithograph – Portrait of the Chatam Sofer – Printed in Vienna, in the Lifetime of the Chatam Sofer, by his Disciple ...

Lithograph – Portrait of the Chatam Sofer – Printed in Vienna, in the Lifetime of the Chatam Sofer, by his Disciple Rabbi Yissachar Ber Frank
Portrait of Rabbi Moshe Sofer, author of Chatam Sofer. Lithograph by Josef Kriehuber, after a painting by Yissachar Ber Frank. Vienna, [ca. 1828].
"Portrait of the famous Torah scholar R. Moshe Sofer Rabbi of the Pressburg community (Hebrew) / Moyses S. Schreiber Oberrabiner der Isre Gemeinde in Presburg".
The famous portrait of R. Moshe Sofer, author of the Chatam Sofer was created by his disciple R. Yissachar Ber Frank, scribe and trustee of the Pressburg community. When Rabbi Yissachar Ber's daughter reached marriageable age, he approached the Chatam Sofer and requested him to suggest an outstanding disciple as a match for his daughter. The Chatam Sofer replied that he can suggest a very special match, the best student in the yeshiva, R. Menachem Katz of Prostitz, however, because he is a potentially leading Torah luminary, R. Yissachar Ber must undertake to support him for a number of years so he can study Torah without distraction. R. Ber did not hesitate and immediately agreed to the shidduch, however, he was financially hard-pressed. Since he did not want to take charity, R. Ber looked for a source of livelihood to provide the necessary funds. He finally came up with an idea. Besides his outstanding Torah knowledge, R. Ber was also a gifted artist. He decided to print portraits of the Chatam Sofer, from a painting which he himself had painted, and sell them to finance the wedding and to support the couple after their marriage. This portrait is the one which R. Ber printed in Vienna. Upon discovering this, the Chatam Sofer was aggravated and summoned R. Ber. He rebuked him for daring to draw his portrait and distribute it without his permission. R. Ber explained that he did this to cover the expenses of his daughter's marriage and that he could not find any other way to earn the money, and said: "I cannot show my face before people begging for a handout", to which the Chatam Sofer replied: "You did not want to show your face so you showed mine instead?". The book Igrot Sofrim (p. 27) cites a letter by R. Akiva Eger sent to his son-in-law the Chatam Sofer from the month of Tamuz 1828, with mention of this portrait: "I have received the letter from R. Ber with the portrait (see: Igrot Sofrim, pp. 27-28, in the note; The history and novellae of Rabbi Menachem Katz Prostich, Part 1, p. 9). Thanks to this printing, this well-known portrait of the Chatam Sofer has been preserved for all times.
20 X 25.5 cm. Fair condition. Stains. Dark dampstains.