After attending the Graphic Arts School in Vilna (Vilnius) from 1885 to 1888, Jehudo Epstein studied from 1888 to 1894 at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien (Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna) under August Eisenmenger and others. While still a student, he already won prizes and scholarships. In 1901 he became a member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus, where he attracted attention through his participation in many exhibitions and for his awards and artistic and social engagement. He no longer appeared in the list of members after 1941. His success as a painter of landscapes, portraits and genre scenes, often featuring Jewish folk life, is demonstrated by his participation in numerous international exhibitions. His works were included in prominent collections such as those of Theodor Herzl, Bernhard Altmann, Fritz Grünbaum, Wilhelm Freund, Oskar Neumann and Heinrich Rieger. In 1934 Epstein set off with his wife Auguste Maria Epstein, née Schellnast, for a study trip to South Africa, which he extended on account of the commissions he was receiving there. It is presumably for that reason that in 1936 he had the movable assets from their apartment and studio at Himmelstraße 43 in Vienna's 19th district put in storage in Bernhard Altmann's factory. An inventory was drawn up at the time, which included not only interior furnishings but also 190 paintings by Epstein. After the annexation of Austria to the German Reich, Epstein, who was Jewish, declined to return to Austria. During the Aryanization of Altmann's factory, Epstein's depot was also cleared out.
Epstein died on 16 November 1945 in Johannesburg. His widow Auguste attempted unsuccessfully in 1947 and 1966 to discover the whereabouts of the items stored with Altmann. The painting Camposanto in Venice found on the premises of the Landesarbeitsamt Niederösterreich (Lower Austria Department of Employment) was the only item returned to Auguste Epstein in 1949/50. In the restitution hearing, eyewitnesses stated that after Altmann's factory had been Aryanized, some of the pictures stored there were transported to the Dorotheum in Vienna, hung in the former factory after Epstein's signature had been overpainted or handed over to Auguste Epstein's mother. No proof has ever been provided for any of this. In investigating the whereabouts of the items stored with Altmann, a large number of auction bids for Epstein's paintings in the years after 1945 have cropped up. It was not until the provenance research from 2009 to 2013 that more of Epstein's paintings from Altmann's factory have been identified and returned to the heirs of Jehudo and Auguste Epstein. They were found in the collections of the Vienna University of Applied Arts and the Jewish Museum Vienna. The whereabouts of most of Epstein's property stored with Altmann remains unexplained.