His Early Life

Jozef Israels (1824-1911), was a Dutch painter. He studied in Amsterdam and Paris and began his career as a portrait and historical painter. But he is famous as a painter of the scenes of fishermen and peasants and the milieu in which they lived. His works are likened to those of Jean Francois Millet and he is often called ‘Dutch Millet’. Israels was one of the leading artists of The Hague School of peasant genre painting. He was born into a Dutch Jewish family in Groningen. His father wanted him to be a businessman and it was after a determined struggle that Israels was allowed to embark on an artistic career.

His Study of Art and Painting

Israel started his painting and drawing lessons at the age of 12 at Groningen’s Akademie Minerva. In 1842, he went to Amsterdam to study under painters Jan Adam Krusemen and Jan Willem Pieneman. Israels studied at the Royal Academy for Fine Arts which later became the State Academy for Fine Arts in Amsterdam. He later visited Paris, where he perfected his academic style of painting between 1845 and 1847.

Israel’s painting style was largely influenced by the later works of the celebrated painter Rembrandt and like Rembrandt, Israels took great interest in painting the poor Jews of the Dutch ghettos as in his painting ‘A Son of the Chosen People’ (1889). He returned to Amsterdam in September 1845 where he resumed his studies at the Academy until May 1847.

Israels moved to The Hague and became a leading member of the Hague School of landscape painters. Israels married Aleida Schaap and the couple had two children, a daughter Mathilde Anna Israel and a son, Isaac Lazarus Israels. His son became a famous fine art painter.

Painting Fishermen, one of his subjects

Israels visited Germany for studying German Romantic Artists. However, despite his training in painting historical scenes, he did not devote much of his career to that field of painting. While recuperating from an illness at the Dutch fishing village of Zandvoort, he was appalled by the tragic moments in the lives of fishermen and their families. His later paintings depicting life in the fishing village earned him international fame. ‘Children of the Sea’ is one of his well-known paintings depicting the life of fishermen. Israels taught numerous students and one among them was his son Isaac Israels.

He Won Prizes and Accolades

He won great popularity because of his piously sentimental approach and in his time, he was the most famous living Dutch artist. Israel’s painting ‘The Zendvoort Fisherman’ was one of his more important works and his other painting ‘The Silent House’ won his a gold medal at the Brussels Salon in 1858.

His painting ‘Village Poor’also won a prize for him in Manchester. Israels achieved great success in London when his painting ‘Shipwrecked’ was sold. His other painting ‘The Cradle’ was described by the Athenaeum magazine as the most touching picture of the exhibition. Israels was honored with the title ‘Officer in the Order of Leopold’ in 1886.

His well-known Paintings

Israel’s well-known paintings include ‘The Frugal Meal’, ‘A Dutch Type’, ‘The Happy Family’, ‘Grief’, ‘Girl On A Dune’, ‘A Fisher Girl on a Dune’, ‘The Sleepers’, ‘A Sea Urchin’, ‘The Errand’, ‘Watching the Flock’, ‘A Young Girl Sewing’, Self Portrait, ‘Dutch Girl on a Beach, Katwijk’, ‘Bringing Home the Calf’, ‘An Old Man Writing by Candlelight’, ‘Fisherman carrying a Drowned Man’, ‘An Unhappy Woman; Domestic Sorrows’, ‘Peasant Childen’, ‘Mending the Nets’, ‘Peasant Family at the Table’, ‘The Day Before Parting’, ‘The Widower’, ‘When we Grow Old’, ‘An Interior’, ‘A Frugal Meal’, ‘Toilers of the Sea’, ‘Speechless Dialogue,’ Between the Fields and the Seachore’, etc.