Long before the term “soft power” became known, the young Javanese had already infiltrated the middle of European art and power. His name was Raden Salih. In 1829 he went to the Netherlands with the status of economic inspector of Jean Baptiste de Linge.
At a young age he became one in all the primary native Indians to receive a contemporary education in Europe. What was initially planned as a two-year journey changed into twenty years.
From The Hague to Dresden, from Dutch palaces to German nobility circles, he gained a fame as a court painter and an exotic figure who captivated European society.
A colonial experiment that took an unexpected turn
Raden Salih’s trip to Europe was not only a matter of artistic education. The colonial government provided him with a stipend of two thousand guilders and covered his living expenses.
He was sent to the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten Den Haag as a part of a social experiment to see if a native might be trained to European.
However, the political situation within the Dutch East Indies at the moment was not easy. The Java War had just ended, Belgium was separating from the Netherlands, and colonial stability remained fragile.
The return of an informed native was considered dangerous since it was tantamount to the import of critical ideas and even the creation of a brand new type of resistance. Assessments of his return were conducted every two years. The recurring query was: Could he return to Java?
Instead of being immediately sent home, Raden Salih was encouraged to proceed his studies outside the Netherlands. He studied with European painters corresponding to Cornelis Kruseman and Andreas Schelfhout.
In 1839 he went to Germany and settled in Dresden, a city he believed had museums, art collections, and natural landscapes that supported his development. He even received permission to work from the king and Prince John of Saxony.
Ultimately, this colonial experiment produced results that would not be fully controlled.
Raden Salih did turn out to be a court painter, welcomed by King William II, awarded the Order of the Oak Crown and appointed royal painter. From a colonial perspective, the experiment seemed successful: a native who was not only educated but additionally recognized as the middle of European power. But what got here next revealed a more complex trajectory.
His monumental work, Arrest of Prince Diponegoropresents the top of the Java War from a perspective different from the version commissioned by General De Kock to Nicolas Pienemann. Recent research shows that the painting not only imitated, but appropriated and inverted the sooner composition – omitting the Dutch flag and depicting a landscape more reflective of Java.
Ultimately, it was the person they trained as a court painter who created a visible image that continues to be interpreted as a logo of colonial betrayal.
First Southeast Asian star in Europe?
In France and Germany, Raden Salih was widely often called the “Prince of Java” and had a nickname The Black Prince by the German press. His characteristic appearance – impressive clothing combined with the Javanese blangkon – created a picture that was each exotic and aristocratic.
He moved from one royal court to a different, also serving as official painter to Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
The combination of artistic abilities, linguistic abilities and the rigorously cultivated personality of a “prince from the East” allowed him to be easily accepted among the many elites of Europe. At a time when the mobility of Asians in Europe was extremely limited, he was not only present, but actively celebrated.
One of his works later became a part of the gathering of British Queen Elizabeth II. His painting Deer huntingcreated in Dresden in 1846, was also sold for a price corresponding to billions of rupees.
Raden Salih died in 1880, having combined two worlds that in his time were considered inconceivable to mix. He was a colonial court painter, a member of scientific institutions corresponding to KITLV and Bataviaasch Genootschap, at the identical time becoming a figure whose works are interpreted as a criticism of colonialism.
The image is continuously used to criticize the federal government
Raden Salih’s legacy doesn’t end along with his worldwide renown as a court painter. Especially his work Arrest of Prince Diponegoro, it became some of the influential images in Indonesia’s visual history.
Throughout the twentieth century and to the current, the image of Diponegoro from this painting has appeared over and over. Seniman Indonesia Muda’s posters used the figure of Diponegoro to rekindle the spirit of resistance against Dutch rule. After the painting returned to Indonesia in 1978, its influence on artistic discourse and public memory became even stronger.
Artists corresponding to Heri Dono and Eddy Susanto have re-appropriated the scene to critique contemporary power dynamics, from the New Order era to contemporary political controversies. The image has turn out to be a medium through which betrayals, transitions of power, social and non secular conflicts are discussed.
