Portrait de Mr B. Goldschmidt
(Portrait of M. B. Goldschmidt)

1954, oil painting on canvas, 54 x 45 cm
Coll. Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
N ° inv. 636

Three years after his wife Alla, Bénédict Goldschmidt also posed for a portrait in the painter’s studio. This portrait echoes the one of Alla: it has the same format, a plain background and a composition that stops at the shoulders. Bénédict Goldschmidt made his career in the family-owned Degroof Bank where he was committed to perpetuating the tradition that would soon spread to all the leaders of the bank: promoting the art of his time and purchasing the works of living painters and sculptors. Alla and Bénédict, who had an outstanding art collection, gave all their support to Bertrand’s work and were even interested in the work of his disciples (Boris Semenoff in particular). A demonstration of that interest is the impressive number of works signed by the artist which were bequeathed by Alla Goldschmidt to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in 1990.