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Raden Sarief Bastaman SALEH (Indonesia, Semarang, 1807-Bogor…
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Raden Sarief Bastaman SALEH (Indonesia, Semarang, 1807-Bogor…
See original version (French)
Lot no. 67
Description
Raden Sarief Bastaman SALEH (Indonesia, Semarang, 1807-Bogor, 1880)
Portrait of Joseph Le Bron de Vexela (1793-1853)
Original oil on canvas
61.5 x 50 cm
Signed and dated in red "R.Saleh 1836" lower left
Provenance: Private collection, France.
The son of a disgraced aristocratic Javanese family, Raden Saleh was born in Indonesia in 1807. Trained by the Dutch painter Antoine Payen (1792-1853), his precocious talent was noticed. He landed in the Netherlands in July 1829, where he was granted a pension as a ward of the state.
In contact with the masterpieces of the old masters, Raden Saleh perfected his brushwork. His artistic talent was soon acclaimed by the critics. He received numerous commissions for important military figures, such as the portrait of Johannes Graaf van den Bosch, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, in the Rjiksmuseum (inv. SK-A-3798), signed and dated in the same year as our portrait, 1836 (ill.1).
In our composition, a man is shown standing in a landscape depicting the region of Central Java, on the banks of the river Progo. On the right, the Merapi volcano, recognisable by its two peaks, exhales dense clouds of smoke. This painting certainly evokes the siege of Pleret in 1826, in the province of Bantul. This battle, won by the Dutch forces, saw the emergence of a number of military figures such as Joseph Le Bron de Vexela (1793-1853), who played a decisive role in the victory by leading the offensives of the Third Division.
Born in Nijmegen to a colonel father, Baron Le Bron de Vexela continued the family tradition when, at the age of 14, he enrolled in the military school at Honselersdijk. His training took place in an unstable political context.
From 1809, the Kingdom of Holland was gradually losing its territories to the French Empire. It was thus with Napoleon's army that Le Bron entered service in 1811, within the 123rd infantry regiment.
He is proudly depicted in our portrait, an illustration of which (ill. 2) is reproduced in the book Verhalen uit de oorlogen in Ned. Oost-Indie¨ (Histories of the Wars in the Dutch East Indies) by J. P Shoemaker, published in 1899 (p. 144). His courage was celebrated at the end of the Russian campaign from which he returned from captivity in August 1814. With the Netherlands liberated from the French yoke, he nevertheless asked to rejoin his country's forces, which was reluctantly granted by his superiors who saw his potential.
Sent to India in 1823, he witnessed the beginnings of the Indonesian uprising that gave rise to the Java War from 1825 to 1830. His capture of the island priest Kiai Modjo, the man behind the rebellion, elevated him to the rank of military hero. In so doing, he completed the final stages of a war against the Dutch colonisers, which he claimed was "holy".
Le Bron returned to the Netherlands in 1830 and was awarded the title of colonel in August 1834. He did not return to India until 1837. This portrait was painted during this period, when Raden Saleh was working in The Hague. The colonel was then 43 years old. We think that the two were already seeing each other at this time, given that Le Bron was one of Saleh's benefactors and patrons when he travelled to Paris a few years later.
We know of another portrait of Le Bron de Vexela painted by Saleh and kept in a private collection (ill. 3).
Raden Saleh's works, rare on the art market, are truly historic pieces, bearing witness both to his artistic genius and to the unique encounter between East and West in the 19th century.
Expert : Alexis BORDES
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