Dr. Ephraim Bonus, Medicus Hebraeus

Jan Lievens celebrates his sitter as a citizen of Amsterdam, with conventional signs of achievement and acclaim. Seated against the base of a giant column, with hat in hand, Buono wears a prayer cap identifying him as a devout member of the Jewish community. Here he is recognized for his faith as well as his medical learning: the inscription compares him to the celebrated Muslim physician Ibn Zuhr (1094–1162), from Andalucia in Spain. Buono, like many early modern physicians, was a scholar and author, known for his poetry and translations. His contributions to Jewish literature include a Spanish translation of the Psalms; he also enriched the Jewish community by founding the society “Torah Or” or “Law is Light.”