Diponegoro
One of Raden Saleh's paintings that gained popularity for its historical value was the 'Capture of Prince Diponegoro', which depicted the famous betrayal by the colonial government of the famous Javanese prince. It was returned to Indonesia from the Dutch royal Palace in 1978. It is currently displayed at the President's Palace Museum in Jakarta.
In the painting, Raden Saleh is said to show his views of the colonialist governments by deliberately making the Dutch look pompous and proud, but somehow imbalanced. The Javanese, on the other hand, were depicted as somehow more balanced in composition. It is also believed that one of the Javanese figures in the painting was a self-portrait.
The German anthropologist and historian Werner Kraus wrote a book entitled "Raden Saleh- The Beginning of Modern Indonesian Painting" (Afterhours Books, 2012), available in English, Indonesian and German after conducting many years of extensive research, as discussed in the Jakarta Globe of 14 December, 2012, p. 25.
Read more about this topic: Raden Saleh