Saleh Ben Jaggia, Raden 1801 Samarang (Java) - 1880 Buitenzorg On the Megamendung pass between Bogor and Bandung on Java, Indonesia. Buffaloes pulling a travelling cart. Signed and dated bottom right: Raden Saleh. 1862. Oil on canvas. 53,5 x 92cm. Framed. Verso canvas stamp. This Javanese landscape is one of the masterpieces of Raden Saleh. It was painted at the peak of his career and it is remarkable that even though it is known through reports of contemporaries, it remained concealed for quite a long time. The Motif: The landscape depicted is an existing one, namely the Megamendung pass in Western Java shortly before its summit. The Megamendung was the highest pass of the Dutch East Indies accessible by cart and part of the great postal road which connected the most important locations in Java. To ascend the West Javanese Highlands, the so called Preanger Landen, one had to follow the very steep Megamendung pass. The German ethnologist and traveller, resident in Java during 1858, wrote following on this part of the road: «Behind Levimalam one reaches the foot of Megamendon which forms the border between the residencies Buitenzorg and the Preanger Landen. The road crosses the mountain with renunciation of almost all zigzag lines on a pass of 4620 foot. Therefore this notch is not surmountable for a baggage cart; light postal carriages need a harness of 6 buffaloes...» This situation is depicted in the painting. The cart on the image however is not a light postal carriage, but a standard travelling cart of the Dutch East Indies Post. Friedrich Gerstäcker mentions in his book Reisen, Australien-Java «a single seat for the coachman with a large gilded backing bowl- like hat» and to the back «a step for the herder, assigned to each such post.». The coachman and the herder can clearly be distinguished in the picture. The fact that the herder is dressed in white and the coachman in red is another argument that this is the Megamendung, for these were the colours worn by herdsmen on the Preanger section of the great postal road. Both these elements, the harnessed buffaloes and the colours of the herdsmen, indicate therefore that the depicted landscape is the upper section of the Megamendung pass. Apart from these historical arguments, needless to say, the landscape itself underlines this attribution. The mountainscape rising diagonally into the picture consists of the volcanoes Gedeh and Pangerango. An illustration from the above mentioned book by Jagor shows this view from the other side of the Megamendung summit. The pass is overcome and the little roadhouse which is on the right side of the street can be seen in the painting by Raden Saleh on the left side of the street. Similary, the volcanoes Gedeh and Pangerango are depicted. Raden Saleh, who lived in the Preanger highlands as early as in the 1820, knew the entrance to this important coffee and tea cultivation areas very well. During the 1850s he crossed the Megamendung several times as well. In 1875 and 1876 he painted two further paintings of the lower section of the Megamendung, namely the Post station to which the buffaloes were harnessed. One of these paintings can be found in the collection of the Ehrenburg Palace in Coburg, the other is part of a private collection in Singapore. The painting in coeval sources: Unusual for the paintings of Raden Saleh, this painting is mentioned by several coevals. William Barrington D'Almeida, who visited the studio of Saleh in Batavia, commented following: «Like the sanctum sanctorum of all artists, the room was filled with models, busts, frameless and unfinished pictures, together with other appurtenances connected with the fine arts. Amongst this confused mass two large subjects, requiring only a few last touches to finish them, claimed our especial attention. One was a landscape taken in the province of Kedoe, including the view of the Murbaboo and Merapi. The grey smoke rising from the volcano was clear and distinct against the sky, which was tinted with the mingling hues of evening. The other called the Inundation, represented a touching scene in the melancholy catastrophe in Banyumas which I have before related.» Due to D'Almeidas lack of knowledge, he wrongly described our landscape as «a landscape taken in the province of Kedoe, including the view of the Murbaboo and Merapi». Gustav Spieß, the chronicler of the Eulenburg Prussian expedition to eastern Asia, visited the studio of Saleh in March 1862 and described our work more preciesely: «We found him as he was in his studio, busy finishing off the painting which depicted a scene from the terrible flood that afflicted inner Java in the bygone year. Apart from this work painted for the King of Holland there was exhibited a wonderful forest scene of the mountains near Buitenzorg. Raden Saleh would like to return to Germany, if not for the barriers between desire and realisation, yet he spoke in the most grateful tone of the days and years he lived in Germany» Even more precise the attribution of an unknown Dutchman who saw the two paintings shortly after in the home of Raden Saleh. He called our painting Een gezigt op de Megamendong in the Preanger (a view on the Megamendung in Preanger): «In Holland there is not much sense in art, but in Java? Pity, pity! Art in Java are goods that a man will not find on the market. Yet recently I had the pleasure to visit the studio of the painter Raden Saleh and I saw a painting he painted for the King depicting a phantasy about the last flood of Java. . .Since last Sunday Raden Saleh's Flooding is exhibited in his home; the Artist added a second painting «A view on the Megamendong in the Praenger». .The exhibition was well-attended. . On this Sunday almost every conversation started with the question;' Have you been to the exhibition?' . The painter added another beautiful laurel to his crown. « Eduard Julius Kerkhoven, who was familiar with the region and after just travelling from the Preanger to Batavia, attended the exhibition as well and was able to give an even more precise geographic ascertainment of the painting: «On Sunday I saw an exhibition of paintings by the painter Raden Saleh. There were two views on the road from Buitenzorg to Cianjur, the so-called Puncak, the highest peak of Megamendung, which forms a part of the Gedeh mountain. There also was a painting which depicted the flooding in Banyumas.» The four above quoted reports leave no doubt that our painting is the «Strasse über den Megamendung». The signature: The signature equates to the artist's common style and construction of letters and numbers. In this context, reference is made to the construction of the letters «a» and «d», which always equal a circle slightly open to the top. The canvas stamp: Noteworthy of the painting is the canvas stamp. On the verso of the canvas the stamp of the company Rowney & Co can be seen. Rowney & Co was, beside Windsor & Newton, the largest worldwide supplier of artist's materials during the 19th C. The stamp, slightly concealed, states: G. Rowney & Co Manufacturers 51 Rathbone Place London. The company Rowney, still existing today, was founded in 1789 and soon expanded with branches and agencies throughout the whole world. In Paris, Barcelona, New York, Chicago, Boston, Melbourne, Sydney and Downsview/Canada. In addition to this Rowney & Co was able to supply goods to every corner of the world. The father of this entrepreneurial success was George Rowney (1792 - 1870), who employed more than 300 employees in London alone. I found a similar canvas stamp to the one on this painting in July 2008 in Yogyakarta/Java on a wonderful portrait of the Sultan Hamengku Buwono VI, painted by Raden Saleh in 1868. Canvas stamp on «Sultan Hamangku Buwono VI» 1868 It seems that Saleh, who probably came to know the company on his visit to England in 1847, ordered a large amount of canvasses in the beginning of the 1860. They all have the business address «51 Rathbone Place, London». The company maintained this address, however only up to 1862. Canvas stamps are a sparsely researched area and in the context of Raden Saleh it is for the first time mentioned at all. For the authenticity and dating of the painting it is quite of importance. Conclusion: Concluding one can say that the offered painting is without any doubt a work by Raden Saleh. Apart from the convincing historical arguments (contemporary reports), the signature and the canvas stamp prove the accuracy of this allegation. Criteria inherent to the painting as such were therefore to a large extent not taken into account. The painting counts to the best landscapes the painter painted in Java. Passau, August 2008 Dr. Werner Kraus