Jozef Israëls

Jozef Israëls (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjoːzəf ˈɪsraːɛls]; 27 January 1824 – 12 August 1911) was a Dutch painter. He was a leading member of the group of landscape painters referred to as the Hague School and was, during his lifetime, "the most respected Dutch artist of the second half of the nineteenth century."

He was born in Groningen to Jewish parents. His father, Hartog Abraham Israëls, was a money changer and intended for Jozef to be a businessman. His mother, Mathilda Salomon née Polack, hoped he would become a rabbi. When he was eleven years old, he attended Minerva Academy in Groningen and began to study painting.

He subsequently continued his studies in Amsterdam, studying at the Royal Academy for Fine Arts, which later became the State Academy for Fine Arts. He was a pupil of Jan Kruseman and attended the drawing class at the academy. From September 1845 until May 1847 he was in Paris, working in the history painter François-Édouard Picot's studio and taking classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under James Pradier, Horace Vernet, and Paul Delaroche. He returned to Amsterdam in September 1845, where he resumed his studies at the Academy until May 1847.