.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
At the end of the 19th century impressionist artists such as Isaac Israels and George Hendrik Breitner (1857-1923) re-discovered the nude theme, although it was still quite controversial at that time. During his time at the academy in The Hague and later in Amsterdam, Isaac was educated in a traditional way and followed numerous life drawing lessons using nude models. In 1886 he enrolled in the Amsterdam academy, where he was considered ‘too good’ and started portraying city life. Together with his friend Breitner he joined the progressive circle of the Tachtigers, an influential group of writers and artists of the time. This was a group that insisted style must reflect content and that emotionally charged subjects can only be represented by an equally intense technique. Influenced by this philosophy, Israels became a painter of the streets, cafes, and cabarets of Amsterdam. He gained more freedom and allowed himself to no longer idealize the female nude, but to reflect on the imperfections it possessed instead, as Isaac Israels shows in the present painting depicting, Sjaantje van Ingen, reading which he painted between 1894 and 1900.
Throughout his artistic career, Israels painted a whole series of fully-fledged and realistic nudes One of his favourite models was Sjaantje van Ingen. Together with his good friend Breitner he would wander the streets and pubs of Amsterdam, where he would meet the women who would later serve as models for his nude paintings. These "femme fatales", as he often depicted them, caused a lot of revolt in society, as The Netherlands still had bourgeois morals. Little is known about Sjaantje’s life and their personal relationship towards Israels. In the 1890s, he made a series of reclining ‘Sjaantjes’ in sometimes almost identical positions (see fig.1 and fig. 2). Israels would often paint his models reading or sleeping, unaware of the beholder. Sjaantje seems to feel completely at ease in his studio. He depicted her in a relaxing pose reading in a book, quiet and seemingly nonchalant. She is lying on a sofa, undoubtedly knowing that the painter looks at her, but is not aware of any harm. Israel paints Sjaantje tenderly and intimately, even slightly sensually, with his distinctive loose impressionist brush, paying close attention to the female curves of her full body and the pink colour of the skin. The soft, subtle colours in this work serve to make the model come to life in a sensual and intimate atmosphere.
Throughout his artistic career, Israels painted a whole series of fully-fledged and realistic nudes One of his favourite models was Sjaantje van Ingen. Together with his good friend Breitner he would wander the streets and pubs of Amsterdam, where he would meet the women who would later serve as models for his nude paintings. These "femme fatales", as he often depicted them, caused a lot of revolt in society, as The Netherlands still had bourgeois morals. Little is known about Sjaantje’s life and their personal relationship towards Israels. In the 1890s, he made a series of reclining ‘Sjaantjes’ in sometimes almost identical positions (see fig.1 and fig. 2). Israels would often paint his models reading or sleeping, unaware of the beholder. Sjaantje seems to feel completely at ease in his studio. He depicted her in a relaxing pose reading in a book, quiet and seemingly nonchalant. She is lying on a sofa, undoubtedly knowing that the painter looks at her, but is not aware of any harm. Israel paints Sjaantje tenderly and intimately, even slightly sensually, with his distinctive loose impressionist brush, paying close attention to the female curves of her full body and the pink colour of the skin. The soft, subtle colours in this work serve to make the model come to life in a sensual and intimate atmosphere.