Portrait of Jacqueline Sandberg

Isaac Israëls's 'Portrait of Jacqueline Sandberg' (1900) is a work by one of the most modern and cosmopolitan of Dutch painters — Israëls's engagement with Impressionist and Post-Impressionist technique made him the most internationally connected of the Dutch painters of his generation. His society portraits were among his most technically brilliant works, his loose, vibrant brushwork giving his fashionable female subjects an energy and presence quite different from the more staid conventions of Dutch academic portraiture.

Israëls renders Jacqueline Sandberg with his characteristic loose, vibrant technique — the face and figure depicted with the summary but expressive brushwork that characterized his mature portrait style. His handling of the woman's dress and the surrounding space creates the compositional context for the face's psychological content. The portrait's energy and freshness distinguished his approach from more conventional Dutch society portrait painters.