Studio: international art (54.1912)

are particularly interesting as showing the exception-
ally keen appreciation which he displayed of the
splendid qualities of these great works, even when
his whole training was being conducted on lines
entirely opposed to the teachings of the old Dutch
and Flemish masters of portraiture. Professor
Eisler has very aptly quoted Israels' own words:
" In Rembrandt alone did I find that breadth and
freedom of execution which was lacking in all the
others, and which in the atelier of my master
(Kruseman) was strenuously tabooed. And if
Franz Hals' bold brush-work made a deeper im-
pression on me than the methods of other masters,
yet even that paled before Rembrandt's incom-
parable colour-effects."

Israels' Eleazar Herrschel, now in the Stadt
Museum at Amsterdam, painted when the artist
was only twenty-two, is one of the best known of
his earlier portraits; but one of his finest efforts
in this branch of painting is the Hellweg portrait,
executed about i860 and now in the Rijks
Museum at Amsterdam, where also hangs his
portrait of the actor Yeltman. It is a curious fact
that with the exception of his wife and daughter
Israels painted practically no female portraits,
though to enumerate the names of his men sitters
would involve quite a lengthy list.

It is impossible to consider here the influence
of Israels on the contemporary art of his country.
But amongst his many followers he numbered
several well-known painters, of whom the names of
Albert Neuhuys, J. B. Blommers, and Adolf Artz
immediately come to mind. These men have
attained considerable success both in Holland and
elsewhere, but their pictures lack just those
qualities which distinguish the finest works of
Israels from those of his followers.

The reproductions which accompany this article
illustrate the more important phases of Israels' art.
Reference has already been made to The Ship-
wrecked Mariner (which was presented to the
National Gallery, London, by the family of the late
Mr. Alexander Young) and Honoured Old Age.
Grief is one of the artist's best-known works, and
Motherly Care and Pancakes represent the high-
water mark of Israels' painting. The crayon study
for Honoured Old Age will be particularly interesting
to the student; while the reproduction in colours,
which forms the frontispiece to the article, is also
worthy of attention. E. G. Halton.

*£* The Editor desires to acknowledge his in-
debtedness to the owners who have kindly allowed
their pictures to be reproduced in this article.