Jozef Israels

Charles B. Rogers, London and Mrs. P.V. Rogers, Utica, New York (acquired directly from the artist by 1 October 1889)
Collection Gross, Tel Aviv
Sale Sotheby's (Tel Aviv), 15 April 1993, lot 73, illustrated
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

D. Dekkers, Jozef Israels, 1824-1911, Zwolle 1999, p. 225

Original canvas. Craquelure visible throughout the canvas. Some filled-in craquelure centrally in the canvas in the dark area behind the figure, some in the figure.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This work depicts a Jewish merchant sitting outside his curiosity shop surrounded by his jumbled merchandise of old clothes, pottery, umbrellas and pails. Israels first experimented with this now-iconic subject in 1888, when his great interest in Jewish culture took form in his watercolor The Curiosity Shop (Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam). This work is more of a traditional genre picture in its inclusion of a sweet child and greater focus on a cornucopia of colorful objects for sale. The following summer, in 1889, the monumental version of Son of the Chosen People was completed (now in the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam) and marked an important progression in the artist's career. Son of the Chosen People reveals Israels' deep appreciation for Rembrandt in his use of a loosely handled brush in combination with thick oil paint to create a compositional focus on the figure, his light brown coat and ruddy skin projecting him out from the dark, flatly painted picture space. Yet the depiction of the merchant is distinctly Israels in its focus on a single, soft shouldered, weary man, framed by darkness, seemingly elevated to symbolic status. So powerful was the subject to contemporary audiences that immediately after its debut the painting was acclaimed as an expression of the dignity and uncertainty of the Jewish ghetto and the diaspora; subsequently, Israels himself was referred to as "the son of the chosen people." The artist soon made several replicas of the large work in different formats and techniques. Many, such as the present example, were completed the same year as the original's debut and were intended for the American market. In fact, a group of letters (to be sold with the painting) dated between August 12 and October 1, 1889 sent by Israels to his patron Mr. Charles B. Rogers clearly mentions the title of the present work as identical to its original (in contrast to other versions Son of the Old People and A Son of God's People) and that it was made "with much pleasure and I believe that it is a very good specimen of my art."

We would like to thank Dr. Dieuwertje Dekkers for confirming the authenticity and for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.