Jozef Israëls was a Dutch painter. He was a leading member of the Hague School and during his lifetime the most respected Dutch artist of the second half of the nineteenth century. His well-known son Isaac Israëls became a fine art painter as well. Jozef Israëls studied subsequently at the Minerca Academy in Groningen and the State Academy for Fine Arts in Amsterdam. From 1845 to 1847 he was in Paris, working in the studio of François-Édouard Picot and taking classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Pradier, Vernet and Delaroche. Back in the Netherlands, he moved to the Hague. He has often been compared to Jean-François Millet. He initially painted in the Romantic style, painting historical and dramatic subjects. After being struck by the daily tragedy of life, he painted more in the Realist style, full of emotion and pity. Israëls has influenced many other painters.
