Raden Saleh Sjarif Boestaman ( ar, ; ', jv, ꦫꦢꦺꦤ꧀ꦱꦭꦺꦃꦯ꦳ꦫꦶꦥ꦳꧀ꦨꦸꦱ꧀ꦠꦩꦤ꧀;

EYD The Enhanced Spelling of the Indonesian Language ( id, Ejaan Bahasa Indonesia yang Disempurnakan, EYD) is the spelling system used for the Indonesian language. History The Enhanced Spelling of the Indonesian Language ( id, Ejaan Bahasa Indon ...

: ''Raden Saleh Syarif Bustaman''; 1811 – 23 April 1880) was a pioneering

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

n Romantic painter of

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

- Javanese ethnicity. He was considered to be the first "modern" artist from Indonesia (then

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

), and his paintings corresponded with nineteenth-century romanticism which was popular in Europe at the time. He also expressed his cultural roots and inventiveness in his work.

Early life

Raden Saleh Syarif Bustaman was born in 1811 in the village of Terboyo, near

Semarang Semarang ( jv, ꦏꦸꦛꦯꦼꦩꦫꦁ , Pegon: سماراڠ) is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today ...

on the island of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

in the

(present-day

). He was born into a noble Hadhrami family; his father was

Sayyid ''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhamm ...

Husen bin Alwi bin Awal bin Yahya, whose family had come to Java via Surat in India in the seventeenth century. He was the grandson of

Abdullah Bustam through his mother, Raden Ayu Sarif Husen bin Alwi bin Awal. Through his sister, Roqayah, Raden Saleh was uncle by marriage to the famous religious leader

Habib Ali Kwitang Ali bin Abdurrahman al-Habshi, better known as ''Habib Ali of Kwitang'' or Habib Ali Kwitang ( ar, علي بن عبدالرحمن الحبشي, ; April 20, 1870 – October 13, 1968) was one of the leading Islamic clerics and preachers in Jakart ...

Travel to Europe

Young Raden Saleh was first taught in

Bogor Bogor ( su, , nl, Buitenzorg) is a city in the West Java province, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.A.J. Payen. Payen acknowledged the youth's talent, and persuaded the colonial government of the Netherlands to send Raden Saleh to the Netherlands to study art. He arrived in Europe in 1829 and began to study under

Cornelius Kruseman Cornelis Kruseman (; 25 September 1797 – 14 November 1857) was a Dutch painter, draughtsman, etcher, lithographer, silhouettist, paper-cut artist, and art collector.Andreas Schelfhout Andreas Schelfhout (1787–1870) was a Dutch painter, etcher and lithographer, known for his landscape paintings. Schelfhout belongs to the Romantic movement. His Dutch winter scenes and frozen canals with skaters were already famous during h ...

. It was from Kruseman that Raden Saleh studied his skills in portraiture, and later was accepted at various European courts where he was assigned to do portraits. While in Europe, in 1836 Saleh became the first indigenous Indonesian to be initiated into

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. From 1839, he spent five years at the court of

Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Ernest I (german: Ernst Anton Karl Ludwig; 2 January 178429 January 1844) was the last sovereign duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (as Ernest III) and, from 1826, the first sovereign duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (as Ernest I). He was the father of A ...

, who became an important patron. From Schelfhout, Raden Saleh furthered his skills as a landscape painter. Raden Saleh visited several European cities, as well as

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...

. In

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, a lion tamer allowed Raden Saleh to study his lion, and from that his most famous painting of animal fights was created, which subsequently brought fame to the artist. Many of his paintings were exhibited at the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the ...

in Amsterdam. Several of his paintings were destroyed when the Colonial Dutch pavilion in Paris was burnt in 1931.

Return to the Dutch East Indies

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Het huis van de kunstschilder Raden Saleh door hemzelf gebouwd

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Portret van de kunstschilder Raden Saleh

Raden Saleh returned to Dutch East Indies in 1852,"Pioneer Between Worlds", ''National Geographic Indonesia'', 2012. after living in Europe for 20 years. He worked as conservator for the colonial collection of government art, and acted as court painter to the Governors-General. He also painted portraits of members of the colonial elite – European administrators, the Javanese ''

priyayi ''Priyayi'' (former spelling: ''Prijaji'') was the Dutch-era class of the nobles of the robe, as opposed to royal nobility or ''ningrat'' ( Javanese), in Java, Indonesia, the world's most populous island. ''Priyayi'' is a Javanese word origina ...

'' or the ''

Peranakan The Peranakans () are an ethnic group defined by their genealogical descent from the first waves of Southern Chinese settlers to maritime Southeast Asia, known as Nanyang (), namely the British Colonial ruled ports in the Malay Peninsula, ...

'' Chinese ' Cabang Atas' – as well as landscapes. Returning to Java, he expressed his uneasiness of living in the colonies, stating that "here, people only talks about coffee and sugar, then sugar and coffee" in one of his letters. Upon returning, he married a wealthy ''

Indo Indo may refer to: * Indo-, a prefix indicating India or the Indian Subcontinent * Indonesia, a country in Asia ** INDO LINES, callsign of Indonesian Airlines ** Indo people, people of mixed European and Indonesian ancestry ** Indo cuisine, fusion ...

'' heiress of part-German extraction, Constancia von Mansfeld. His new wife financed the construction of Saleh's '' landhuis'' or country house on the private domain ('' particuliere land'') that the couple had acquired, Cikini. Saleh's house was inspired architecturally by

Callenberg Castle Callenberg Castle (''Schloss Callenberg'') is a castle on a wooded hill in Beiersdorf, an ''Ortsteil'' of Coburg, from the town centre. It was a hunting lodge and summer residence and has long been the principal residence of the House of Saxe-Cob ...

where he had stayed during his European travels 1844. Surrounded by vast grounds, most of them were converted into public gardens in 1862, and were closed in the turn of the century. In 1960, the

Taman Ismail Marzuki Ismail Marzuki Park, ( Indonesian: Taman Ismail Marzuki, TIM), is an arts, cultural, and science center located at Cikini in Jakarta, Indonesia. Taman Ismail Marzuki complex comprises a number of facilities including six performing arts theaters, ...

was built in the former gardens. The house itself is still used today as a PGI Cikini Hospital building. On his first wife's death, Saleh remarried to a young aristocratic woman of

Yogyakarta Sultanate The Sultanate of Yogyakarta ( jv, ꦏꦱꦸꦭ꧀ꦠꦤ꧀ꦤꦤ꧀ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦡꦲꦢꦶꦤꦶꦔꦿꦠ꧀, Kasultanan Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat ; ) is a Javanese monarchy in Yogyakarta Special Region, in the Republic o ...

, Raden Ayu Danudirdja, in 1867 and subsequently moved to

Bogor Bogor ( su, , nl, Buitenzorg) is a city in the West Java province, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.Bogor Botanical Gardens The Bogor Botanical Gardens ( id, Kebun Raya Bogor) is a botanical garden located in Bogor, Indonesia, 60 km south of central Jakarta. It is currently operated by Indonesian Institute of Sciences (Indonesian: ''Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Ind ...

with a view of Mount Salak. He later took his wife to travel in Europe, visiting countries such as the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Italy. His wife however contracted an illness while in Paris, the exact illness is still not known, and was so severe that they both immediately returned to Bogor. She died on 31 July 1880, following her husband's death three months earlier.

Death

On Friday morning, 23 April, 1880, Saleh suddenly fell sick. He claimed that he was poisoned by one of his servants, and subsequently died; however post-mortem examination showed that his circulatory system was disrupted due to a clot near his heart. Saleh was buried two days later in Kampung Empang, Bogor. As reported in Javanese Bode newspaper, 28 April 1880, his funeral was "attended by various '' landheeren'' andlordsand Dutch officials, and even by curious students from nearby school."

Painting

During his stay in Paris, Saleh met

Horace Vernet Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (30 June 178917 January 1863), more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist subjects. Biography Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another famous painter, who w ...

whose painting frequently took themes of African wildlife. Compared to Vernet, Saleh's painting seems to be more influenced by the romantic painter

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...

. This could be seen in one of Saleh's work, ''Hunting Lion'', 1840, which has similar composition to Delacroix's '' Liberty Leading the People''. However, Werner Kraus, a researcher in the Southeast-Asian Art Center of

Passau Passau (; bar, label= Central Bavarian, Båssa) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") as the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's po ...

, Germany, said that Saleh "never mentioned Delacroix. Perhaps he saw Delacroix's, and possibly Vernet's, works during an exhibition."

''The Arrest of Pangeran Diponegoro''

Raden Saleh is particularly remembered for his historical painting, ''The Arrest of Pangeran Diponegoro'', which depicted the betrayal of the rebel leader Prince Diponegoro by the colonial government, thus ending the

Java War The Java War ( jv, ꦥꦼꦫꦁꦗꦮ) or Diponegoro War () was fought in central Java from 1825 to 1830, between the colonial Dutch Empire and native Javanese rebels. The war started as a rebellion led by Prince Diponegoro, a leading member ...

in 1830. The Prince was tricked into entering Dutch custody near

Magelang Magelang () is one of six cities in Central Java that are administratively independent of the regencies in which they lie geographically. Each of these cities is governed by a mayor rather than a ''bupati''. Magelang city covers an area of 18. ...

, believing he was there for negotiations of a possible cease-fire. He was captured through treachery and later deported. The event had been previously painted by a Dutch painter

Nicolaas Pieneman Nicolaas Pieneman (; 1 January 1809 – 30 December 1860) was a Dutch painter, art collector, lithographer, and sculptor. Biography Nicolaas Pieneman was born on 1 January 1809 in Amersfoort in the Kingdom of Holland. He was the son of painte ...

, commissioned by Lieutenant General Hendrik Merkus de Kock. It is thought that Saleh saw this painting during his stay in Europe. Saleh made significant changes in his version of the painting; Pieneman painted the scene from the right, Saleh from the left. Pieneman depicts Diponegoro with resigned expression, while in Saleh's he appears to be outraged. Pieneman gave his painting the title ''Submission of Prince Diponegoro'', while Saleh gave ''The Arrest of Pangeran Diponegoro''. It is known that Saleh deliberately painted Diponegoro's Dutch captors with large heads to make them appear monstrous, as opposed to the more proportionally depicted Javanese. Raden Saleh’s work has been regarded as a sign of incipient nationalism in what was then the Dutch East Indies. This can also be seen it the depiction of Diponegoro's men. Pieneman had never been to the Indies, and so depicted Diponegoro's men in a more Arabic fashion. Saleh's version has a more accurate depiction of native Javanese clothing, with some figures wearing

batik Batik is an Indonesian technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a ''ca ...

and blangkon. Saleh finished this painting in 1857 and presented it to Willem III of Netherlands in

. It was returned to Indonesia in 1978 as a realization of a cultural agreement between the two countries in 1969, regarding the return of cultural items which were taken, lent, or exchanged to the Dutch in the previous eras. Even though the painting did not fall under any of those categories, because Saleh presented it to the King of the Netherlands and it was never in the possession of Indonesia, it was nevertheless returned as a gift from the

Royal Palace of Amsterdam The Royal Palace of Amsterdam in Amsterdam (Dutch: ''Koninklijk Paleis van Amsterdam'' or ) is one of three palaces in the Netherlands which are at the disposal of the monarch by Act of Parliament. It is situated on the west side of Dam Squar ...

, and is currently displayed at the

Merdeka Palace The Merdeka Palace (; also known in Indonesian as ''Istana Gambir'' and during the Dutch colonial times as ''Paleis te Koningsplein''), is one of six presidential palaces in Indonesia. It is located on the north side of the Merdeka Square in Cen ...

Museum in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...

Works

Raden Saleh Bustaman Winterlandschaft.jpg, ''Winter Scenery'' (1830) JeanChrétienBaud.jpg, ''Portrait of Jean Chrétien Baud'' (1835) Raden Sarief Bastaman Saleh - Johannes Graaf van den Bosch.jpg, ''Portrait of

Johannes van den Bosch Johannes, Count van den Bosch (2 February 1780 – 28 January 1844) was a Dutch officer and politician. He was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1830–1833), commander of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, Minister of Colonies, ...

'' (1836) Raden Sarief Bustaman Saleh - Lion attacking a horse.jpg, ''Lion attacking a horse'' (1840) Raden Saleh - Self Portrait.jpg, Self-portrait (1841) Raden Saleh - hunt.jpg, ''Deer Hunt'' (1846) Raden Saleh - Javanese Landscape, with Tigers Listening to the Sound of a Travelling Group.jpg, ''Javanese Landscape, with Tigers Listening to the Sound of a Travelling Group'' (1849) Raden Saleh - Six Horsemen Chasing Deer, 1860.jpg, ''Six Horsemen Chasing Deer'' (1860) COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een overstroming op Java TMnr 3728-464.jpg, ''A Flood in Java'' (1865-1875), modelled after Géricault's '' The Raft of the Medusa'' Raden Saleh - Javanese Mail Station, 1876.jpg, ''Javanese Mail Station'' (1876) Raden Saleh - Study of walking tiger.jpg, Watercolor study of a walking tiger Raden Saleh, circle of - A landscape in the Dutch East Indies.jpg, A landscape in the Dutch East Indie

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saleh, Raden 1807 births 1880 deaths People from Semarang Javanese people Romantic painters 19th-century Indonesian painters Indonesian people of Yemeni descent Hashemite people Indonesian Freemasons Priyayi Indonesian people of Arab descent