ISRAELS, JOSEF (1824-1911), Dutch painter, was born at Groningen, of Hebrew parents, on Jan. 27, 1824. His father intenqd him to be a rabbi and the study of the Talmud in his youth influenced his outlook in later life. However, the attempts he made under the guidance of two painters in his native town— Bus and van Wicheren—led to his being sent to Amsterdam, where he became a pupil of Jan Kruseman, of Jan Willem Pie nemaun at the academy and of the sculptor Royer. He then spent two years in Paris, working in Picot's studio and at the Acad. des B. Arts under Pradier, H. Vernet and Delaroche ; and returned to Amsterdam in 1847. There he remained till 1870, when he moved to The Hague for good. Israels was one of the greatest Dutch painters of the 19th century. He has often been compared to J. F. Millet. They both saw in the life of the poor and humble a motive for expressing with peculiar intensity their wide human sympathy ; but Millet was the peasant poet of rural life, while Israels is a painter of the soul.
He began with historical and dramatic subjects in the roman tic style of the day. In 1855, after an illness, he went to recruit his strength to the fishing-town of Zandvoort near Haarlem, and there he was struck by the daily tragedy of life. Thence forth he was possessed by a new vein of artistic expression, sin cerely realistic, full of emotion. Among his more important subsequent works are "The Zandvoort Fisherman" (Amster dam gallery), "The Silent House" (gold medal at the Brussels Salon, 1858) and "Village Poor" (a prize at Manchester). In 1862 he achieved great success in London with his "Shipwrecked," and "The Cradle." We may mention among his maturer works "The Widower" (Mesdag collection), "When we grow Old" and "Alone in the World" (Amsterdam gallery), "An Interior" (Dordrecht gallery), "A Frugal Meal" (Glasgow museum), "Toilers of the Sea," "A Speechless Dialogue," "Between the Fields and the Seashore," "The Brie-à-brae Seller" (medals of honour at the great Paris Exhibition of 1900). In "David Singing
before Saul" (Stedelijk museum, Amsterdam) and other pictures painted in his old age he attained a powerful style of expression by which he approached the later works of Rembrandt. As a water-colour painter and etcher he produced a vast number of works, full of deep feeling, generally treated in broad masses of light and shade, which give prominence to the principal subject. He died at The Hague on Aug. 12, 1911. His art created but few followers. Vincent van Gogh speaks of it with great admiration in his famous letters; and in so far as the expression of feeling was the subject matter of his pictures Israels may be regarded as a precursor of the expressionists. His works are very numerous. The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, has 3o paintings and water-col ours. He is represented in many public collections in• Europe and America, and many works are in private ownership.
See Jan Veth, J. Israils en zj)n Kunst (Arnheim, 19o4) ; F. Stahl, J. Israels (1903) ; C. L. Dake, J. Israels (i9i ; M. Liebermann, J. Israels (4th ed., 191I) ; J. E. Phythian, J. Israels (1912) ; A. Plaschaert, J. Israils (1924) ; M. Eisler, J. Israels (Studio Special Spring Number 1924). Pr. Zilcken, J. Israels in Peintres holland. modernes contains a catalogue of his etchings (1899 2nd ed.). See also J. Israils. Spain; the Story of a Journey (19oo) with illustrations by the author.