Official Raden Saleh® Store

Prince Raden Saleh - Aristocrat, Scientist and Artist - Karja Pelukis Indonesia Prince Raden Saleh was born in 1811 into the noble Indonesian Regent family of the famous Kijai Ngabehi Kertoboso Bustaman (1681-1759), a legend in his own time and directly related to the Mataram Kingdom and Sultanate, just as his great-grandnephew Dr. George H. Hundeshagen. Following the treacherous arrest of Prince Diponegoro by General de Kock, Prince Raden Saleh was enticed to move to Europe, where he studied art under Cornelius Kruseman and Andreas Schelfhout. Although he was the first Indonesian artist to paint in the Western style, the fact that he expressed individuality and creativity in his work (as opposed to the traditional approach which stressed the reproduction of established forms and styles) showed the way for future Indonesian artists to express their own ideas more freely. It was from Kruseman that Prince Raden Saleh learned his skills as a portraitist, and he was received at various European courts where he was commissioned mainly to do portraits. From 1839, he spent five years at the court of Ernst I, Grand Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who became an important patron. From Schelfhout, Prince Raden Saleh learned the skills of a landscape artist.