Beschreibung:

A full-length portrait of an elegant lady signed 'Isaac/Israels' (lower right) oil on canvas, 81x50 cm Provenance: -With Kunsthandel W.M. Stam, The Hague. Please note that the depicted lady might be Guusje van Dongen, the wife of famous painter Kees van Dongen Please compare the dress to another known portrait of Guusje sold at: Auction, Glerum, The Hague, 25 October 1999, lot 23, painted circa 1912. Isaac Israëls was one of the many Dutch painters who became mesmerized by the French capital. Paris offered the vibrancy of modern life and Isaac had always wanted to be a painter of this modern life. It is no surprise he settled there from 1903 until 1913. Unlike many other artists living in Paris, Isaac had the luxury of not have to paint out of necessity, and was able to get into salons and galleries with more ease, mainly because of the name of his famous father, Jozef. He could just paint for his own pleasure: ‘Je peins pour m’amuser’. It was in the French metropolis that Israels met his fellow countryman Kees van Dongen who was already living in Paris since 1897 and was considered more French than Dutch. They probably would have met when Isaac visited a successful show of Van Dongen at Galerie Vollard in 1904. Later that year, Van Dongen was immortalized by Isaac in a portrait. They remained close friends thereafter. The lady in this painting, Guusje van Dongen, could possibly be the wife of this Frenchified artist. Israels made several portraits of Guusje and she is always wearing the same hairstyle and is dressed in the same blue and orange Spanish dress, sometimes playing a mandolin. Guusje or not, Isaac painted the figure in his own typical style. He did not paint an elaborate portrait but sketched with paint. Isaac’s oeuvre consists of many paintings of various figures. He started out capturing the professional models on the runway or in their dressing rooms at Hirsch fashion house in Amsterdam, as well as the seamstresses in the atelier. He later continued to do so in Paris, at Paquin fashion house. Yet, counted among his best portraits of figures, were those of the subjects that stood close to him. This present lot is a fine example of the portraits Isaac made of the people out of his own circle, where he would capture them in an intimate setting. Above all, Israels is a figure painter and portraitist. He knew like no other to depict the uniqueness of each subject in his typical and swift impressionist style.