Oil on canvas
72 x 57 cm
1861
Signed and dated middle left 'J. Israels 1861'
Price on request
Jozef Israëls was considered the leading Dutch artist of the latter half of the 19th century, during his lifetime. A prominent member of renowned Hague School, he rose to fame for his honest depictions of life among the fishing and peasant communities in coastal Holland. His legacy was profound and he greatly inspired Van Gogh, whose early output, such as The Potato Eaters, was heavily influenced by Israëls.
Alongside his painting of world-weary, hardworking fisherfolk, throughout his long and venerated career, he also produced portraits. He had a deep affinity for and understanding of his fellow countryman Rembrandt, which can be seen most clearly in his portraiture and clearly in the present work. While the present sitter remains unknown we get a strong sense of the man, his relaxed but powerful gaze suggesting a deep but quiet interior confidence. While likely a formal portrait, the man is of a similar aged to Israëls, who was 37, and the warmth and humanity gives the suggestion that the sitter was a friend or associate of the artist.
As is often the case in the careers of artists, Israëls style and technique loosens and frees with age and here even at a reasonably young age there is an increasing fluidity and painterliness in his approach, his brushstrokes becoming more visible and his palette more nuanced. Painted in 1861, Israëls had become ill in 1855 and moved to Zandvoort to aid his recovery, it was his time here that spawned his most notable and important works, where, immersed in the community, he recorded their plight and hardships. By 1861 he had created his name and in the same year, having returned to Amsterdam he created one his most famous works, Fishermen Carrying a Drowned Man a huge triumph at the Paris Salon of 1861 and the London International Exhibition of 1862.
Born in Groningen in 1824, aged 18 he travelled to Amsterdam to study drawing under Jan Adam Kruseman, attending classes at the Amsterdam Royal Academy of Art. Following this in 1845 he moved to Paris to work in the studio of the history painter, François-Édouard Picot, himself a highly regarded artist he also had other revered artist such as Alexandre Cabanel and William-Adolphe Bouguereau under his tutelage. While there he attended classes at the École des Beaux-Arts being taught by the likes of James Pradier, Horace Vernet and Paul Delaroche.
Israëls returned to the Netherlands in 1847 and produced portraits and history paintings often around Jewish subjects. His move to Zandvoort in 1855 changed the direction of his career away from historical subjects to a more realist perception. Around 1858 he returned to Amsterdam where he remained until 1871, when he moved to The Hague and became a leading member of The Hague School.
He had a son, Isaac, in 1865 and his wish that ‘with the help of the Lord, he will become a better painter than his father’ very probably came true, as he went to on to become the most acclaimed of the Dutch Impressionists.
