Josef Israels watercolor on paper hand signed Born into a family of Sephardic origin, although his father wanted him to be a merchant, he finally allowed him to develop an artistic career, on the condition that the courses, which were given by professors Buys and van Wicheren in his hometown, were supervised paternal. This pressure would lead Jozef to move to Amsterdam, as a student of Jan Kruseman and later to Paris, where between 1845 and 1847 he attended the classes of Horace Vernet and Paul Delaroche in Paris at the School of Fine Arts.3 He then returned to Amsterdam, where he would remain until 1870 to move and settle in The Hague. 4Like Millet, Josef Israel painted the lives of poor and humble people with profound humanity, although - according to Duranty - in part of the Dutchman's work the sadness and suffering of the working or rural classes seems to be more starkly perceived.3Israel began making portraits and pictures of historical subjects, following the dictates of Romanticism in its early years. An illness would take him as a convalescent to the fishing village of Zandvoort, near Haarlem, where he could delve into the tragedy of the most forgotten and oppressed classes, which further stimulated his vision of solidarity. Works from that period include The Fisherman of Zandvoort (in the Amsterdam gallery), The Silent House (which won the gold medal at the Brussels Salon in 1858) and Poor Town (which would receive an award in Manchester) . In 1862 he achieved some success in London with Shipwreck and The Cradle, two paintings that Athenaeum magazine described as the most moving in the exhibition.Josef Israel, Self-portrait (1908)Other works of his are The Widower (in the Mesdag collection), We Grow Old and Alone in the World (Amsterdam Gallery), An Interior (Dordrecht Gallery), Frugal Food (Glasgow Museum), Between the Field and the Seashore and The curio seller (who won two medals of honor at the 1900 Paris World's Fair).In the last years of the nineteenth century, he made a trip to Spain which he published in Spanje, een reisverhaal (1899), a book in which, in addition to thoughts and observations, includes pencil sketches and watercolors. 3 In one of his last works, David singing before Saul, recovers his youthful admiration for the painting of his compatriot Rembrandt. He was also a industrious producer of watercolors and prints.He was much admired by Vincent van Gogh, 3 who often cited him in letters to his brother Theo.6 Some early Van Gogh paintings show a strong influence from Israel, as is the case with The Potato Eaters.

This is in very good condition Provenance available upon request. Private Collection.