Self-Portrait with a Portrait of Raden Mas Jodjana in the Background

In 1916 a young Javanese nobleman named Raden Mas Jodjana danced at a charity evening in The Hague. He had been sent to the Netherlands for a commercial education and a post in the colonial administration. After that evening he became a professional dancer instead. Isaac Israëls was in the audience, and the two men became friends. Jodjana sat for him many times and took painting lessons in return.

This small canvas, painted in The Hague in 1919, is Israëls looking out at us with one of his portraits of Jodjana standing behind him. Two years later, at 56, he sailed for the Dutch East Indies carrying letters of introduction Jodjana had written for him to the court at Yogyakarta, and spent about a year drawing and painting there.

The picture stayed in the dancer's family for a century. Jodjana's daughter left it to the museum, which put it on view in June 2021.