Portret van Samuel Sigmund Rosenstein, hoogleraar Geneeskunde en Pathologie te Leiden

Jozef Israëls was the leading figure of the Hague School of Dutch painting — sometimes called the 'Dutch Millet' for his sympathetic documentation of fishing communities and peasant life — and a painter of international reputation by the time of this 1902 portrait commission. The sitter, Samuel Sigmund Rosenstein, was a Leiden professor of medicine and pathology, and the portrait was commissioned for Leiden University's collection of academic portraits. Israëls's willingness to accept academic portrait commissions from a major Dutch university reflects his established standing, while the choice of him for this commission reflects the sitter's or institution's preference for the most distinguished Dutch painter of his generation.

The academic portrait format — a seated or standing scholar in professorial dress — is handled with the tonal seriousness and restrained technique appropriate to an official commission. Israëls's characteristic warm, fluid handling of flesh tones and the intelligent rendering of the professor's face demonstrate the figure-painting ability underlying even the most formal of his commissions.