Herman Willem Daendels 1838

Raden Saleh's "Herman Willem Daendels" (1838) is a portrait of the Dutch Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. The painting depicts Daendels in his military uniform, holding a telescope and pointing at a map, symbolizing his power and influence in the region. Saleh, born in 1811 in Java, was a pioneer of Indonesian art and a skilled portraitist who brought European academic techniques to his subject matter. This painting, currently housed in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, exemplifies Saleh's ability to capture the details of his subject's attire and the grandeur of the colonial context.