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The Arrest of Pangeran Diponegoro

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The Arrest of Pangeran Diponegoro
Penangkapan Pangeran Diponegoro(Indonesian),Gevangenname van Prins Diponegoro(Dutch)
A Javanese man in a turban surrendering himself to Dutch authorities
ArtistRaden Saleh
Year1857
Dimensions112 cm × 178 cm (44 in × 70 in)
LocationIstana Negara,Jakarta,Indonesia

The Arrest of Pangeran Diponegoro(alsoThe Arrest of Prince Diponegoro;Indonesian:Penangkapan Pangeran Diponegoro;Dutch:Gevangenname van Prins Diponegoro) is the name of an 1857 painting byRaden Saleh,depicting the capture ofPrinceDiponegorobyLieutenant GeneralHendrik Merkus de Kockon 28 March 1830.

Description[edit]

PrinceDiponegorostands, defiant, in front of Lieutenant GeneralHendrik Merkus de Kockin front of the colonial officer'smansion.[1]He wears a greenturban,whitetabardoverpantaloons,and a jacket; around his waist is a golden belt, to whichprayer beadsare attached, and over his shoulder is ashawl.[2]He appears to be struggling to control his anger – as would be expected fromJavanese gentry– while the Europeans' eyes are static and avoid the eyes of others.[3]

De Kock, the captor, stands to Diponegoro's left, at the same level as theguerrilla.[3]Further to the left are various Dutch officers, identified by the historian and Diponegoro biographerPeter Careyas Colonel Louis du Perr, Lieutenant-Colonel W.A. Roest, and Major-Adjutant Francois Victor Henri Antoine Ridder de Stuer. To the prince's right stands a Javanese man identified by Carey as Diponegoro's son, Diponegoro the Younger, followed byResident of KeduFranciscus Gerardus Valck, Colonel Jan-Baptist Cleerens, and Captain Johan Jacob Roeps.[4]At Diponegoro's feet, a woman – possibly his wife Raden Ayu Rětnaningsih – reaches out to grab him.[2]

The view from the northeast shows a still morning scene, with no wind blowing, and centered around Diponegoro.[5][6]Saleh gives the paintingdepth of field,showing the soldiers closest to the front in crisp detail, while blurring the details of those in the back rows.[7]The heads of the Dutchmen depicted appear to be slightly too large for their bodies,[3]while those of the Javanese soldiers are of proper proportions.[2]The painter,Raden Saleh,inserted himself into the painting twice: as a soldier bowing to the captured leader, and as a soldier facing the viewer.[8]

This painting measures 112 by 178 centimetres (44 in × 70 in).[9]

History[edit]

Background[edit]

The Submission of Prince Dipo Negoro to General De Kock,Nicolaas Pieneman(c. 1830–35)

Diponegoro (1785–1855), a descendant of theSultans of Yogyakarta,was passed over several times for ascension to the throne.[10]In 1825, after declaring himselfRatu Adiland his enemies infidels for their lax practice of Islam, he began a war against the reigning sultan and the Dutch colonial government. In the five-year struggle that followed, which was waged over much of centralJava,over 200,000Javaneseand 15,000 Dutch soldiers were killed.[11]On 28 March 1830, with most other guerrilla leaders captured, Diponegoro was invited to come to Lieutenant General De Kock's home inMagelangto negotiate an end of hostilities and guaranteed safety of passage. There, after three hours, Diponegoro was arrested.[12]He was exiled toMakassar,Sulawesi,where he remained until his death.[10]

Saleh's depiction is not the only painted version of Diponegoro's capture. An earlier version,The Submission of Prince Dipo Negoro to General De Kock,was completedc.1835 byNicolaas Pienemanon commission by De Kock or his family.[13][12]Rather than an angry and defiant man, Pieneman presented a submissive and beaten Diponegoro, standing lower than his captor and thus symbolically having less power.[11][14]Overall, Pieneman's painting gives the impression that, although De Kock is acting sternly in exiling Diponegoro, it is in the best interest of the Javanese.[15]The author Susie Protschky describes both Pieneman and Saleh's works as "two of the best-known history paintings from the Indies".[11]

Completion[edit]

Saleh returned toJavain 1851 after a lengthy period studying in Europe, during which he had claimed a familial relationship to the guerrilla and protested his treatment at the hands of the Dutch colonial administration. Diponegoro died in 1855, which art historian Werner Krauss suggests inspired the artist to completeThe Arrest of Pangeran Diponegoroand "reformulate" the arrest in Javanese terms, rather than the colonial terms of Pieneman.[16]Although Saleh had never met the prince and had been studying in Europe when Diponegoro was captured, his family had fought for Diponegoro.[17][18]

Saleh's sketch for the painting (1856)

Pieneman's painting was already known to Saleh, and he may have known the artist as well.[19]Saleh was also likely inspired by history painters, particularlyLouis Gallait;Krauss finds similarities between Gallait'sThe Abdication of Charles Vand Saleh's depiction of Diponegoro's arrest.[16]The artist's use of color is reminiscent of the nature works byHorace VernetandEugène Delacroix,both of whom Saleh was familiar with, and De Kock's pose appears to have been influenced byItalian Renaissance paintings.[17]

Work had begun in 1856 when Saleh requested permission to travel to various sites related to the Java War but was denied. A preliminary sketch was completed later that year; Saleh had previously visited a cousin inMagelang,where Diponegoro was arrested and was thus aware of the area and the setting. In his preparations, Saleh made one of his most ambitious projects, with more than forty people in the frame.[19]Krauss stated thatThe Arrest of Pangeran Diponegorowas both the first South-East Asian painting in thehistorical paintinggenre, and the first one by a South-East Asian artist to depict an event from the area.[20]

Subsequent history[edit]

The completed painting was gifted toKing William IIIof the Netherlands. Saleh said that it was a "token of thanks" for the Dutch government paying for his education in Europe for nearly twenty-three years.[9]After several years in the Palace inThe Hague,The Arrest of Pangeran Diponegorowas hung inBronbeek,a home for Royal Colonial Military veterans.[20]Around the early 1970s,The Arrest of Pangeran Diponegorowas given some restoration, including a new coat of varnish.[7]In 1978, the Oranje Nassau Foundation arranged for the work to be sent to the government of Indonesia; this was done under the terms of the Cultural Accord of 1969.[17][20]

The Arrest of Pangeran Diponegorowas initially held at theCentral Museum,along with other artifacts from the Java War, up through the early 1980s.[17]By 2005, the painting was kept in theIstana Negaramuseum. It was reported to be in poor condition.[20]The edges of the work had become brittle,[21]and the varnish had given the painting a greenish tinge.[7]

Owing to the amount of damage the painting had sustained and its historical value, in 2012 theGoethe-Institutand Ansari Djojohadikusumo Foundation arranged forThe Arrest of Pangeran Diponegoroto be restored by conservator Susanne Erhards of the Köln Group.[21][7]This began with a cleaning shortly before the work was displayed in theNational Gallery of Indonesia,followed by an analysis of the composition of the varnish (allowing it to be removed). The work was then given a string lining on the canvas, then reframed.[21]Finally, damage to the paint was touched up withwatercolors,and a new layer of varnish was applied.[7]

Analysis[edit]

The Arrest of Pangeran Diponegorohas been considered an example of early Southeast Asian nationalism in art. John Clark, in his 1998 book, wrote that the painting declared "you did this to us, but we are still us" to the Dutch.[22]Krauss expands on this, stating that the positioning of De Kock on the left-hand ( "female", or "less powerful" ) side and the over-large heads of the Dutch officers relegates them (to a Javanese viewer) as impotentraksasas;Dutch viewers unfamiliar with such Javanese cultural considerations could have not realized that it was a "bitter comment on Dutch colonial rule".[23]This analysis has been supported by Carey, who describes the gifting of the painting as a "curious backhanded gesture" towards the Dutch king. He considers the morning to indicate that "the memory of Dipanagara – his genius and his suffering – would one day... redeem the nation from the shackles of colonialism.[24]

The painting has also been used as evidence that Saleh did not have any sense of nationalism. The Indonesian historian Harsja Bachtiar wrote that the gifting of the painting to William III was evidence that there was no struggle, but rather the relationship of a courtier and his king, or of an artist and his patron.[25]The art historian Astri Wright gave a similar reading, stating that Saleh's depiction of the final outcome of the Java War served as a warning for any future rebels, and suggesting that Saleh's painting may have been commissioned by the Dutch colonial government.[26]Protschky likewise questions the presence of resistance to colonial rule, looking to Saleh's paintings of theGovernors-General of the Dutch East Indiesand seeing them depicted as "uncontested rulers" over the Indies; as such, by presenting the painting to the Dutch king Saleh recognised Dutch rule.[11]

Reception[edit]

The painting has been considered one of Saleh's masterpieces.[15]Krauss considers it well-balanced and well-composed.[19]Carey considered the painting more "animated" than Pieneman's, and considers the morning light to lend a "translucent quality" to the "magnificent Javanese scenery".[17]However, the historian H.J. de Graaf found fault with the disproportionate heads in the painting, and took issue with the discrepancies between thegallerydepicted in Saleh's painting and the actual interior room where the arrest took place.[27]

Cultural reference[edit]

The poetTaufiq Ismail,after viewing the painting in 1995, wrote a short quatrain regarding it:[28]

Original Translation

Aku termangu melihat lukisan itu...
Kau beri adegan abad ke 19 yang begitu tegang...
seorang Pangeran, pangeran, ditangkap dengan khianat
Wahai Raden Saleh Syarif Bustaman, betapa padat dan kaya isyarat lukisan Tuan

I'm stunned, seeing that painting...
You've given us such a tense 19th-century scene
A Prince, prince, caught through treachery
Oh Raden Saleh Syarif Bustaman, how rich the symbolism in your painting, Sir

In 2001,Yogyakarta-basedartist Rudi Winarso created a parody of the painting, which depicted Raden Saleh showingThe Arrest of Pangeran Diponegoroto a clearly moved Diponegoro, as the two are being held prisoner by Pieneman, De Kock, and King William III; Winarso stated that the painting was meant to highlight the contrasting points of view presented by Saleh and Pieneman in their depictions of Diponegoro's capture.[29]In 2010, the Indonesian choreographer Sardono W. Kusumo used a large-scale reproduction of the painting as ascrimfor the stage operaTaking a Fresh Look at Diponegoro.[1]A stage adaptation, based on the scene, was performed at the National Gallery of Indonesia in June 2012.[28]

In 2022, produced byVisinema Picture,Jagartha,Astro Shaw,andBlibli,directed byAngga Dwimas Sasongko,this painting is used as the main plot of aheistactionfilm entitledStealing Raden Saleh,starringIqbaal Ramadhan,Angga Yunanda,Rachel Amanda,Umay Shahab,Aghniny HaqueandAri Irham.[30][31]

References[edit]

  1. ^abTaufiqurrahman 2010.
  2. ^abcCarey 2007,p. 698.
  3. ^abcKrauss 2005,p. 285.
  4. ^Carey 1982,p. 25.
  5. ^Krauss 2005,p. 286.
  6. ^Carey 2007,p. 699.
  7. ^abcdeLatief 2013.
  8. ^Carey 1982,p. 5.
  9. ^abCarey 1982,p. 1.
  10. ^abEncarta.
  11. ^abcdProtschky 2011,p. 74.
  12. ^abRijksmuseum.
  13. ^Krauss 2005,p. 279.
  14. ^Krauss 2005,p. 284.
  15. ^abKrauss 2005,p. 282.
  16. ^abKrauss 2005,p. 290.
  17. ^abcdeCarey 1982,p. 2.
  18. ^Carey 2007,p. 742.
  19. ^abcKrauss 2005,pp. 276–82.
  20. ^abcdKrauss 2005,p. 260.
  21. ^abcRulistia 2013.
  22. ^quoted inKrauss 2005,p. 260.
  23. ^Krauss 2005,pp. 285–86.
  24. ^Carey 2007,pp. 698–99.
  25. ^quoted inKrauss 2005,p. 287.
  26. ^quoted inKrauss 2005,p. 287.
  27. ^quoted inKrauss 2005,p. 286.
  28. ^abZakiya 2012.
  29. ^Maharani 2013.
  30. ^Setiawan, Tri Susanto (2 January 2021). Kistyarini (ed.)."Angga Dwimas Sasongko Persiapkan Mencuri Raden Saleh".KOMPAS(in Indonesian).Retrieved2022-09-02.
  31. ^Fathurrozak (18 May 2021)."Ini Dia Para Pencuri Raden Saleh".mediaindonesia(in Indonesian).Retrieved2022-09-02.

Works cited[edit]

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