The portrait of James Israel by the German impressionist Max Liebermann: a selected pictorial view on the early twentieth century development of surgical urology in Berlin.

On the occasion of his retirement from the position as head of the Jewish Hospital in Berlin in 1917, the famous kidney surgeon James Israel (1848-1926) was portrayed by Max Liebermann (1847-1935). At that time both men were leading members of their professions--medicine and fine arts--and represented the Jewish community in Berlin. Private contacts between the surgeon and the artist had been established when Liebermann and his wife needed surgical treatment themselves some years before. Liebermann's later friendship with the surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch (1875-1951) culminated in one of the best-known portraits of a member of the medical profession. This biographical article from the history of medicine and fine arts reflecting the relation of these men provides a special view of the development of urological surgery in Berlin at the beginning of the twentieth century.