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Lot Essay
Dieuwertje Dekkers pleads that Army and Navy is synonymous with 'prank', a description for the present lot used by Jozef Israels in a letter to the Scottish painter George Reid: "I should have finished already Peddies Prank but clouds over clouds are hanging before my window". And a few days later: "It is impossible to bring The Poor of the Village upon the now coming royal academy but I try to make my masterpiece from Prank and will send it there it is not a great work but I have thought that a small fine is better then a superficial big". A good month later: "I have the pleasure to inform you that I have written to Mr. Dick Peddie that I have send him a case containing two pictures the one is prank and the other the landscape" (autograph letters to George Reid, dated 5 January 1872, 11 January 1872 and 19 February 1872, Aberdeen Art Galery).
In spite of the (illogical) literal translation one can assume that 'prank' is the same as the present lot. The fact that Van Gelder has dated the work 1872 supports the above thesis.
In Holland, Israels achieved early success with Past Mother's Grave (Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam) which was purchased in 1856 by Amsterdam's Royal Academy. International fame came when Shipwrecked Fisherman(National Gallery London) attracted much attention at the Paris Salon of 1861 and was equally well received at the International Exhibition of 1862 in London.
Contemporaries have too often compared Israels with Rembrandt. In connection with the exhibition at the French Gallery the Times wrote: "One feels that the subject is exploited for the sake of pleasure it will give, and not treated with the complete and inconsious seriousness of a Rembrandt". The critic felt that Israels' immense populairity lay hidden in the fact, that he made an appeal to the sentiment, but that he was a much better artist then most 'sentimental' painters.
As a result of Israels' heightened activity in the official exhibition circuit in London in the first half of the 1870s, and the fact that his masterpieces were acquired by renowed collectors as James Staats Forbes and Alexander Young, the artist's work could regularly be viewed at several of London's important Art Galleries.
The Hague branche of Goupil's was to become his most important agent. The sales through Goupil turned Jozef Israels, together with Jacob Maris, into the best paid Dutch artists of the last decades of the 19th century.
To be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisnné being prepared by Dieuwertje Dekkers.
The prospective buyer is kindly requested to loan the present lot to the forthcoming combined exhibition on Jozef Israels in the Groninger Museum, Groningen, and the Joods Historisch Museum, Amsterdam, in December 1999.
In spite of the (illogical) literal translation one can assume that 'prank' is the same as the present lot. The fact that Van Gelder has dated the work 1872 supports the above thesis.
In Holland, Israels achieved early success with Past Mother's Grave (Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam) which was purchased in 1856 by Amsterdam's Royal Academy. International fame came when Shipwrecked Fisherman(National Gallery London) attracted much attention at the Paris Salon of 1861 and was equally well received at the International Exhibition of 1862 in London.
Contemporaries have too often compared Israels with Rembrandt. In connection with the exhibition at the French Gallery the Times wrote: "One feels that the subject is exploited for the sake of pleasure it will give, and not treated with the complete and inconsious seriousness of a Rembrandt". The critic felt that Israels' immense populairity lay hidden in the fact, that he made an appeal to the sentiment, but that he was a much better artist then most 'sentimental' painters.
As a result of Israels' heightened activity in the official exhibition circuit in London in the first half of the 1870s, and the fact that his masterpieces were acquired by renowed collectors as James Staats Forbes and Alexander Young, the artist's work could regularly be viewed at several of London's important Art Galleries.
The Hague branche of Goupil's was to become his most important agent. The sales through Goupil turned Jozef Israels, together with Jacob Maris, into the best paid Dutch artists of the last decades of the 19th century.
To be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisnné being prepared by Dieuwertje Dekkers.
The prospective buyer is kindly requested to loan the present lot to the forthcoming combined exhibition on Jozef Israels in the Groninger Museum, Groningen, and the Joods Historisch Museum, Amsterdam, in December 1999.