Posthumous portrait of Herman Willem Daendels (1762-1818). Gouverneur-generaal (1808-10)

The posthumous portrait of Herman Willem Daendels is executed in oil paint on canvas, a standard medium for formal European-style portraiture of the period.

The posthumous portrait of Herman Willem Daendels is executed in oil paint on canvas, a standard medium for formal European-style portraiture of the period. The canvas support measures 119 cm in height and 98 cm in width, a near-life-size vertical format suited to an official commemorative likeness of a colonial governor-general.

Produced in 1838 by Raden Saleh in the Netherlands, the work adopts the conventions of nineteenth-century European portrait painting, presenting its subject in a static, frontal commemorative mode rather than a candid pose. The use of oil on canvas allowed for the layered, blended handling characteristic of academic portrait practice, lending itself to the formal, dignified presentation expected of a posthumous state portrait.