Dutch painter of the Amsterdam impressionistic school.
He was the son of the painter Jozef Israëls and Aleida Schaap (2 Aug 1843- 16 Jan 1894) who were married 7 May 1863 at Groningen. They got two children. He had a sister Mathilde Anna (b. 14 Feb 1864).
Isaac was born at the atelier of his then already famous father on the Amsterdam Prinsengracht. In 1871 the family moved to a large house in The Hague’s Koninginnegracht 6. His father was a prominent painter of the Hague school and the house was a meeting place of local and international artists. He grew up in an inspiring environment and showed an early talent for drawing. In 1871 his father wrote an English friend: “He is a clever animal-painter and with the aid of the Lord he will be a better colourman than his father.” In 1877 the family visited the cities Paris, Turin, Rome, Pisa, Naples and Venice.
After finishing the elementary school he followed between 1878 and 1880 drawing lessons at the art academy of J.Ph. Koelman. Here he met his friend Breitner, with whom he shared an interest in painting city street life. This in contrast to his more romantic father and members of the Larense and Hague School, who tended to move away from the city to paint “pure” nature landscapes.
In 1886 he visited the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten at Amsterdam, but the next year he could leave with the notes: “reeds gevormd kunstenaar aan de Academie geheel misplaatst” (already formed artist, misplaced at the Academy). That year he traveled to the Salon in Paris to meet other artists, a habit that he would repeat every year. In 1882 he presented “Militaire Begrafenis” at the Paris Salon.
He traveled a lot to other European places, often accompanied by friends. Between 1921 and 1922 he visited India and Java. Thereafter he settled in the Hague, living at the atelier of his in 1911 deceased father at the Koninginnegracht 2.
In his later year he often traveled with portrait painter Jan Veth and his wife and his mistress, the painter Sophie de Vries (1879-1931), who left her family for him.
He died 7 October 1934 in his home at Koninginnegracht 2, two days after a car accident.
Link to Wikipidia biography