Raden Saleh, scion of a Javanese regent family, came to the Netherlands in 1829 to study painting. Here we still see him as a European dandy before a Western seascape. However, he soon specialized in oriental scenes, and began dressing as a Javanese prince.

Back on Java (1851), Raden Saleh built a small neo-Gothic palace, where he received the European elite. And so he constantly shifted between his Javanese and his European identity.