I.L. (ISAAC) ISRAELS 1865 Amsterdam - 1934 The Hague Javanese Prince

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Isaac Israels first became fascinated with the Dutch East Indies in 1898, at the National Exhibition of Women's Labour in The Hague, where an Indonesian kampong had been recreated, complete with Javanese dances, gamelan music, and Indisch food. "The Javanese are magnificent," he wrote. "I spend the whole day twisting my hands à la Javanaise and think of nothing but tandaks and alang alang." This marked the start of a lifelong admiration for Indonesian culture, which eventually led him to visit the East in 1921, where he painted sun-drenched works depicting the colony's inhabitants.

In 1915, Isaac Israels returned to the Indies as a subject. The perpetually restless Isaac Israels tried, in that war year, to carry on as though nothing were amiss. He had spent some time in Switzerland, then went to Paris, but found it strangely altered: "almost without foreigners, without theatres, all cafés closed by half past ten in the evening and the streets dark." He tried London next, but the mood there, too, was defined by war. There was nothing for it but to remain in The Hague for the time being. During this period, he painted many portraits and began depicting Javanese people living in the city, regularly inviting Indonesian students from Leiden to pose in his studio or on his balcony.

Under Dutch colonial administration, an indigenous governing structure existed, staffed by Indonesians from prominent families who served as intermediaries between the colonial authorities and the local population. For this reason, many aristocratic Indonesians travelled to the Netherlands to study in preparation for administrative roles in the colony. These students frequently gathered at the Haagse Kunstkring, where they engaged with poetry, dance, and the visual arts. Many of them would later become involved in the nationalist movement that led to Indonesian independence. One such student is depicted here by Israels in a serene, serious, and inward-looking pose. He is seated on a rattan chair that recurs in several of Israels' Indies portraits. Israels paid particular attention to the face, modelling it carefully with broad brushstrokes, revealing the great virtuosity for which he was known. This manner of painting was not immediately understood by his Javanese friend Jodjana, who wrote that he could not see how, for example, a person's face could be constructed from a composition of colours and their nuances, because I did not perceive these factors in reality either. The face of a Javanese, for instance, I would simply have coloured 'brown'. It was through my association with Isaac Israels that I first came to know colour combinations and colour effects and developed my feeling for them."

Israels portrayed Indonesians, including the poet Noto Soeroto, the law student Sosro Kartono, and the dancer Jodjana, with whom he formed a close friendship. The identity of the sitter in the present work is unfortunately unknown, though it is entirely possible that the subject was indeed a Javanese prince. What is certain is that the Indies atmosphere of the painting was Israels' own creation. He dressed his student sitters in Indisch clothing they did not wear in the Netherlands, and the same sarongs can sometimes be identified across different portraits. To heighten the tropical atmosphere, he borrowed palms and other tropical plants from the zoo across the street. Some paintings were further dressed with krises, wayang puppets, and exotic folding screens. These works were often conceived not as conventional portraits but as exotic subjects that found eager markets. Israels' Indies work represents a high point in his oeuvre and was popular from the outset. The present painting was sold in 1916 by Israels' regular dealer, Frans Buffa, in Amsterdam, immediately, for the considerable sum of 600 guilders. Isaac Israels continues to be regarded as one of the greatest painters to have captured the culture and people of the Dutch East Indies on canvas.