Lot 20: RADEN SARIEF BUSTAMAN SALEH (Indonesia 1807-1880)

The lion hunt signed and dated 'Raden Saleh f 1840' (lower left) oil on canvas 33 x 55 in. (85 x 140 cm.) PROVENANCE Prince Albert von Saxen Coburg-Gotha as indicated by a label on the stretcher. NOTES Raden Saleh was the student of A. A. Payen, a Belgian artist and was working under the influence of 18th century European Romanticism, notable Theodore Gericault and Eugene Delacroix. As the first known native of the Dutch East Indies who painted in the Western style, he is often considered as a pioneer of Indonesian painting, in fact, his mastery of the Western skills is regarded as the East Indies equivalent to Western achievements. In 1829, he went to the Netherlands where he studied under the Dutch artists Cornelis Kruseman and Andreas Schelfhout. In 1839 he started an educational tour which would last for ten years. He visited Berlin, Dresden, and Coburg and was received by the high society and various European courts which were charmed by his exotic look, gentle manner and linguistic talent. During this time, he became friends with Ernst I, Grand Duke of Saxen-Coburg-Gotha, with whom he stayed no fewer than five years. When Ernst I died in 1844, Raden Saleh left for France, where he became an honoured guest at the Paris Salons . Before he embarked upon his tour in 1839 which brought him to Dresden and Paris, in 1836 when he was still studying in the Hague Raden Saleh met Henri Martin the circus master. Martin allowed the artist to study the animals of his circus carefully and Saleh executed between 1836 and 1839 several compositions of lions and tigers which are well documented. Henceforth, the artist had discovered the subject-matter which would bring him great fame and to which he would remain faithful during his entire career : the wild animal scenes. The present lot Lion hunt which was dated in 1840 is very possibly one of the exhibits in the artist's 1840 Dresden exhibition that announced his emergence as an artist. Dated in 1840, Lion hunt preceded the monumental The deer hunt of 1846. The affiliation between the two works is evident. "The composition with its three plans of mountains in the distance, a plan with tiny figures in the middle and the foreground with the lively, intermingling group of hunters and animals is outstanding. The colours are fresh and sparkling and the way the central figure is emphasized with light is unsurpassed. The rendering of details in the figures is most accurate and the nuances in the figure is emphasized with light is unsurpassed. The rendering of the details in the figures is most accurate and the nuances in the materials - animal skin, fabrics - are beautifully done." (Catalogue notes for lot 52, The deer hunt, Christie's Singapore, Southeast Asian Pictures auction, March 1996). The description could be applied to either picture interchangeably. Apart from the different geographical setting, both works sought to emphasize the action, turbulence, drama and heroism expressed the ferocity of the wild animals and the fear of the horses. In short, both contains the quintessential elements of the Romanticist tradition championed by Eugene Delacroix which maintained fascination with the mysterious, the dark, the spectacular and the wild, and which Mrs. De Loos-Haaxman has aptly described "he builds up his oeuvre to his characteristic and typical works in which men and animals play the leading role versus the omnipresence of Nature" ( Raden Saleh in Den Haag, 1965, pp. 74-75). The composition of hunting-scene with wild animals, which originated from both the Dresden and Paris period form the nucleus of Raden saleh's works. In a letter to the secretary of Colonial Affairs J.C. Baud, Raden Saleh explained why wildlife-and oriental hunting scenes will constitute his main subject matter: "Sebap im kampf en gevecht, orang darie Europa djarang jang bisa bikin sebap da lain dia poenja ingettan, djadie saja ada oentoeng sebap saja orang darie Aziea" (Ibid, Alg. Rijksarchief, colonial archives letter to J.C. Baud, undated, probably late 1840, transl. As "Hunting themes are scarcely depicted by European painters because they are not in accordance with their nature. As an Asiatic that is my good fortune.").