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Lot Essay
Around 1900 the fishing village Scheveningen developed into a sophisticated beachresort which was popular with the Dutch high society. The village not only attracted wealthy tourists but artists alike: Isaac Israels was one of the many artists who spent his summers in Scheveningen during the Belle Epoque. From 1895 onwards he would stay during the summer with his father Jozef, who was in the habit of renting a villa at the Oranje Hotel. The famous German painter Max Liebermann (1847-1935), who was a family friend, often came to stay during the summer months. The three artists would paint in Scheveningen together, inspiring each other in their work. Even in the years when Isaac was living abroad, he would still return to The Hague and Scheveningen in the summer to work there.
Women - both working class and elegant ladies - fascinated the artist throughout his career and play a central role in his oeuvre. The artist's fascination for the dressed-up beauty in the present lot is obvious: he has paid carefull attention to the depiction of her elegant features. Although it seems at first glance that the present lot shows an anonymous mother with her children, in this case the identity of the sitters is known because the painting has remained with the descendants of the sitters. The children are Andrea de Bloeme and her younger brother Jan. Their parents were friends of the artist and directly commissioned this work from Israels. The lady accompanying the children is their governess. According to family history, the artist was enraptured by her beauty and depicted her more than once. This identification also makes way for the identification of another painting by the artist: the girl in a red dress sitting on her own on a fence by the beach can now be identified as Andrea de Bloeme (see: D. Welling, op.cit., p. 80).
Women - both working class and elegant ladies - fascinated the artist throughout his career and play a central role in his oeuvre. The artist's fascination for the dressed-up beauty in the present lot is obvious: he has paid carefull attention to the depiction of her elegant features. Although it seems at first glance that the present lot shows an anonymous mother with her children, in this case the identity of the sitters is known because the painting has remained with the descendants of the sitters. The children are Andrea de Bloeme and her younger brother Jan. Their parents were friends of the artist and directly commissioned this work from Israels. The lady accompanying the children is their governess. According to family history, the artist was enraptured by her beauty and depicted her more than once. This identification also makes way for the identification of another painting by the artist: the girl in a red dress sitting on her own on a fence by the beach can now be identified as Andrea de Bloeme (see: D. Welling, op.cit., p. 80).