Girl at the door (standing to knit)

About this artwork.

Jozef Israëls (1824 - 1911) was a painter who grew up in Groningen and took drawing and painting lessons at the Minerva Academy from the age of eleven, and also made etchings, lithographs and wrote. Experts describe Israel's — like H.W. Mesdag – as an icon of the Hague School. Even though they left the city on their way to international fame, they knew where they came from and continued to feel that bond with Groningen.

Israëls is said to be devoted to portraying human figures in his characteristic environment. Scenes that made him known were the images of deep human compassion, sorrow and sad loneliness. He had an open mind and his great interest in new expressions in literature and the visual arts did not go unnoticed. His working method was widely imitated in the nineteenth century, both by Dutch painters such as Van Gogh and Mondriaan, and by foreign painters such as Max Liebermann.

At first, Israëls mainly painted the fisherman's life in Zandvoort and Katwijk, later many individuals who are doing needlework, peeling potatoes, feeding a goat and knitting as depicted on Girl at the door. This work was painted by Israël in 1896 and was donated by the painter in that year, with the intention that it would serve to enhance the mayor's chamber.

Abraham Hesselink made a monument in 1922 in memory of the painter, based on a well-known painting by Israëls called Langs moeders graf from 1856. The statue was placed at the Hereplein in Groningen.

Facts & Figures.

• Artist(s)
  Jozef Israels

• Year of creation
  1896

• Dimensions (in cm)
  94x81

• Collection
  Town Hall Collection

• Technic
  Oil paint on canvas