Jozef Israëls

A. Preyer, The Hague

Cassirer Art

Eduard Arnold Collection, Berlin, acquired from the above on 28. September 1904 for 50,000 Mark and until at least 1922/23

Galerie Matthiesen, Berlin, circa 1948

Private collection, Israel

Paris, Salon, 1896, no. 701

Possibly, London, French Gallery, 1896, no. 61

Arnhem, 1897, no. 104

Amsterdam, Arti et Amicitiae, 1898, no. 49

Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Fragmented mirror, exhibition of Jewish Artists, Berlin, 1907, 2009

Max Liebermann, Jozef Israels, Berlin, 1918, illustrated

Dieuwertje Dekkers, Kinderen der Zee. De samenwerking tussen Jozef Israels en Nicolaas Beets, Jong Holland, 1986, p. 44

Dieuwertje Dekkers, Jozef Israels: een succesvol schilder van het vissersgenre, Utrecht, 1994, p. 334

Dieuwertje Dekkers, Jozef Israëls 1824-1911, exh. cat., Groninger Museum, Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam, 1999-2000, pp. 245-246, no. 55, illustrated

Michael Dorrmann, Unser bedeutendster und glücklichster Sammler von neuen Bildern“. Die Entstehung und Präsentation der Sammlung Arnhold in Berlin, in: Andrea Pophanken, Felix Billeter: Die Moderne und ihre Sammler. Französische Kunst in deutschem Privatbesitz vom Kaiserreich zur Weimarer Republik, Berlin, 2001, S. 23-40.2001, p. 33

Michael Dorrmann, Edurard Arnhold (1849-1925). Eine biographische Studie zu Unternehmer – und Maezenatentum im Deutschen Kaiserreich, 2002

A fisherman's wife, wearing a characteristic wide-brimmed fisherman's hat, sits on an overturned basket. Her son rests his hand lovingly on her shoulder. They both stare out at the infinite horizon and empty, undulating sea, waiting for the return of the fleet. This work is part of a series of beach scenes that Israëls painted from the 1890s onwards. He based this composition on an earlier fishing scene from circa 1857 (Christie's, Amsterdam, 16 November 1988, lot 152). With broad brushstrokes and a limited colour palette, Israëls successfully captures the churning, glistening sea and the feeling of hope, as the family sits and waits.

Max Liebermann included a reproduction of On the beach in his book on the artist, first published in 1901. He may have seen this work when it was in the prestigious Arnold collection in Berlin.