DOI Heft:
Nr. 106 (December, 1905)
DOI Artikel:Halton, Ernest G.: The Staats Forbes collection, 2, The modern Dutch pictures
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26961#0155
The Staats Forbes Collection
Amongst the few great men to whom is due the
revival in painting in Holland during the last fifty
years, the most prominent position is held by
Josef Israels. He is a painter of remarkable
individuality, and if in his skilful treatment of light
and shade, broad technique and masterly reticence
we recognise some of the most striking character-
istics of the work of his famous ancestors, it must
be admitted that the dominating features of his art
are essentially his own. He expresses the poetry
of the humble life of his country as no one eise has
done it. He takes for his theme the sterner
aspects of life ; and though there is usually in his
pictures a note of pathos, of despondency, or of
resignation, the underlying sympathy and tender
feeling give a beauty which appeals to the deepest
emotions.
In Israels’ pictures subject and surroundings are
always in harmony. To his mind every subject
has its own peculiar environment, and this consti-
tutes the key-note of his art. Thus he places his sad
and melancholy figures in a room lit by the dim
flame of a candle or the tempered light from a
window, and he clothes them in an atmosphere of
grey and sombre tones.
Let us take for example the small picture in the
Staats Forbes Collection called The Evening of Life,
where in the room of a cottage is seen an old
woman seated in an arm-
chair with her hands
crossed. The dark
shadows of the dimly
lighted room are in har-
mony with her expression
of sadness and her attitude
of resignation. The subtle
combination of sombre
tones serves to enhance
the feeling of loneliness
which the artist wishes to
convey.
Waiting and IVatching
is another typical example
of Israels’ art. A young
woman is seated at a table
gazing out of the window.
The clear light on the face
and falling across the
table suggest Rembrandt,
the one master by whom
Israels is really influenced.
And in the water-colour
called A Reverie — Girl
ivinding Wool, we have a
similar subject treated in
a like manner.
Of the drawings, how-
ever, we prefer the Peeling
Rotatoes, an excellent ex-
ampleof Israels at his best.
Here, the colour is indi-
vidual and the drawing has
not the looseness which is
seen in some of the artist’s
works. The skilfully exe-
cuted, luminous shadows
reveal the painter’s com-
plete mastery of his
“PEELING POTATOES ’ BY JOSEF ISRAELS
(By pennission of Messrs. Thos. Agnew Sr Sons)
III
Amongst the few great men to whom is due the
revival in painting in Holland during the last fifty
years, the most prominent position is held by
Josef Israels. He is a painter of remarkable
individuality, and if in his skilful treatment of light
and shade, broad technique and masterly reticence
we recognise some of the most striking character-
istics of the work of his famous ancestors, it must
be admitted that the dominating features of his art
are essentially his own. He expresses the poetry
of the humble life of his country as no one eise has
done it. He takes for his theme the sterner
aspects of life ; and though there is usually in his
pictures a note of pathos, of despondency, or of
resignation, the underlying sympathy and tender
feeling give a beauty which appeals to the deepest
emotions.
In Israels’ pictures subject and surroundings are
always in harmony. To his mind every subject
has its own peculiar environment, and this consti-
tutes the key-note of his art. Thus he places his sad
and melancholy figures in a room lit by the dim
flame of a candle or the tempered light from a
window, and he clothes them in an atmosphere of
grey and sombre tones.
Let us take for example the small picture in the
Staats Forbes Collection called The Evening of Life,
where in the room of a cottage is seen an old
woman seated in an arm-
chair with her hands
crossed. The dark
shadows of the dimly
lighted room are in har-
mony with her expression
of sadness and her attitude
of resignation. The subtle
combination of sombre
tones serves to enhance
the feeling of loneliness
which the artist wishes to
convey.
Waiting and IVatching
is another typical example
of Israels’ art. A young
woman is seated at a table
gazing out of the window.
The clear light on the face
and falling across the
table suggest Rembrandt,
the one master by whom
Israels is really influenced.
And in the water-colour
called A Reverie — Girl
ivinding Wool, we have a
similar subject treated in
a like manner.
Of the drawings, how-
ever, we prefer the Peeling
Rotatoes, an excellent ex-
ampleof Israels at his best.
Here, the colour is indi-
vidual and the drawing has
not the looseness which is
seen in some of the artist’s
works. The skilfully exe-
cuted, luminous shadows
reveal the painter’s com-
plete mastery of his
“PEELING POTATOES ’ BY JOSEF ISRAELS
(By pennission of Messrs. Thos. Agnew Sr Sons)
III