Baruch Lopes de Leaô Laguna was the son of Salomon Lopes de Leaô Laguna and Sara Kroese. He was orphaned at ten years of age. In 1889 he and his wife moved from Amsterdam to Laren on account of their poor health.
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From the article by Herman Minkenhof:
Baruch grew up in the Portuguese-Jewish orphanage in Amsterdam. He had to attend the Portuguese Synagogue every day, where he was more impressed by the faces around him than by the interior. As a boy, he drew these faces. When the time came to decide about his future occupation when he was fourteen, he was sent to the Quellinius school to be trained as an ornamental painter. Two years later, he sat for the entrance examination for the Academie, where Allebé and Wijnveld taught.
At age seventeen he had to leave the orphanage and support himself. He set up a home and studio in an attic in the Jewish quarter. He worked for magazines and became known when his sketches appeared in the first issue of Elsevier's monthly.
A music lover, he went to Frascati, where he once drew an old cellist. Encouraged by the sculptor Teixeira de Mattos, he sent the drawing to Arti, which purchased the picture. Baruch became a member of Arti and received several commissions. After marrying Rosa Asscher - when he was around thirty - he moved to the Gooi, first to Laren, then to Hilversum and finally to
"the real centre for painters in Laren-Blaricum. He felt very much at home in this gathering place for jovial and original spirits from all local, national and anthropological walks of life. To this polychrome palette of people, he added his own special colour, and he was welcome in the many-voiced choir that resounded daily after work around 'the round table of Hamdorff' as the solo performer for Amsterdam humour."
He was not interested in landscapes. Occasionally he produced a painting of a Gooi landscape, so that the Laren art vendor might export it to the United States. But Baruch always added a person to the landscape:
"He loved to paint people: farmers, bankers, servicemen, worldly women, gentle mothers with children, merchants, scholars, physicians." Above all, he was dedicated to "belle peinture".
He painted Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis ("what a fine face"), War Minister Colijn, Chief Rabbi Van Loen. Once he was summoned to England to paint Mrs. Deterding and had to interrupt his work for eight days because of an engagement from which Mrs. Deterding was unable to excuse herself. Henry Deterding presented him with a cheque to amuse himself at the Derby races for those days.
"To the horses, oh Mr. Deterding, if it's all the same to you, I'd rather spend the time with my Rosie."
Baruch lived for his family. He and Rose suffered a severe blow when their promising son Martijn was killed in a motorcycle accident. He coped with his sadness by burying himself in his work and is still at work at age 78:
"For despite his self-confidence, the 78-year old artist has remained a humble man, who sets high standards for himself. His standards for others reveal his Jewish identity: injustice is the worst sin known to him. He loves attractive people but cares more about a noble character."
Het Joodsche Weekblad, 10 October 1941, 5
See for further information: J. van Adrichem (et al.), Rebel, mijn hart : kunstenaars 1940-1945 (Zwolle 1995) 151
We have been unable to determine whether one or more members of this family survived the war. While their names do not appear on the lists of survivors, we have not been able to trace them in In Memoriam either. They are therefore labeled as 'surviving' and their names are not listed.