INDONESIA The Dutch artist Isaac Israels (Dutch, 1865 – 1934) had an enduring fascination with Indonesia, then known as the Dutch East Indies. Indonesian culture first made its mark on Israels as early as 1898 at an exhibition in The Hague which featured a replica Indonesian village, but he did not set sail for Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) until 1921. He stayed in the region for nearly a year and the paintings dating from the voyage powerfully convey the impression which the tropical light made on the artist. The sale includes three paintings from a Dutch private collection: Javanese Dancer (est. £100,000-150,000, illustrated left), Girls on a Bridge in Batavia, Dutch East Indies (est. £60,000-80,000) and Seated Javanese Dancers (est. £80,000-120,000), alongside Portrait of a Javanese Woman (est. £20,000-30,000). Painted circa 1922, Javanese Dancer is set within a pendopo (or pendapa), a Javanese pavilion structure built on columns and open on all sides, used as a ritual space for ceremonies. A dancer, with arrows on her back and elaborate headgear, takes centre stage while gamelan musicians are seated behind her. Israels' energetic brushwork brings to life the hypnotic motion of the dancer, while onlookers sit in the verdant tropical surroundings beyond.

SOUTH AMERICA Ferdinand Bellermann (German, 1814 – 1889), Hacienda de San Esteban de Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, oil on canvas, 1847, Estimate £150,000-200,000

Painted with great attention to detail in terms of flora, topography, and human activity, Bellermann executed Hacienda de San Esteban de Puerto Cabello, Venezuela within two years of his return to Germany from Venezuela. This is the earliest known oil from a small series depicting one of the artist's favourite subjects: the sugar mill at San Esteban outside Puerto Cabello in northern Venezuela. After studying under Karl Blechen at the Berlin Academy, Bellermann attracted the attention of the polymath, naturalist, and explorer Alexander von Humboldt, who had travelled in Venezuela in 1799-1800, at the beginning of his legendary expedition to Latin America. Humboldt in turn persuaded the King of Prussia Frederick Wilhelm IV to offer the young artist a travel stipend, on condition that his sketchbooks and studies would be given to the Prussian Royal Collection on his return. Bellermann was initially invited by the German merchant and Prussian Consul in Puerto Cabello, Carl Rühs, to travel on the Margareth to Venezuela. Having arrived at the port of La Guaira in July 1842, Bellermann sailed on to Puerto Cabello, where he met the German merchant Ludwig Glöckler and received his invitation to the San Esteban plantation. Bellermann spent over three years travelling in Venezuela, visiting sites such as Guácharo cave, the Tovar German Colony, the Andes and Maracaibo, often in the company of the naturalist Carl Moritz. Bellermann’s numerous drawings provided a valuable contribution to the study of Venezuela's topography and botany.

THE ARCTIC François Etienne Musin (Belgian, 1820 – 1888), HMS Resolute in Search of Sir John Franklin, oil on canvas, 1850, Estimate £80,000-120,000

Painted in April 1850, HMS Resolute in Search of Sir John Franklin vividly brings to life one leading mission in the heroic search for British explorer Sir John Franklin. At that time the explorer and his crew aboard HMS Erebus and Terror were understood to be in difficulty in the Canadian Arctic, however their whereabouts remained unknown. Led by the Admiralty and championed energetically by Lady Franklin herself, numerous searches for Franklin were conducted from the western and eastern coasts of Canada. Still optimistic, in 1850 a squadron of four vessels commanded by HMS Resolute (depicted here) was dispatched, using dog sleds and even primitive hydrogen balloons with messages attached. Unbeknownst to those at home, Franklin had already died some three years earlier. Franklin’s expedition, the countless searches led to find him, and later the tragic fate that befell the men caught the imagination of the Romantic movement.

Having joined the Royal Navy at the age of 14, John Franklin served in the Battle of Trafalgar and subsequently became one of the most famous names in polar exploration. In 1818 he was commander of the Trent, with orders to sail to the North Pole and thence into the Northwest passage from the Bering Strait, searching for a route which would connect trade between the Atlantic and Pacific via the Arctic. Franklin’s ships were last seen by a whaler off Baffin Bay in August 1845, and they had enough supplies to last until summer 1848 – longer than the two summers thought necessary for the exploration of the Northwest passage. Shortly afterwards traces of Franklin’s expedition began to be found and the graves of three of the crew, who had died in early 1846, were discovered on Beechey Island. The Admiralty abandoned its search in January 1854, The Times declaring that the expeditions were by now ‘wasting time upon a search for dead men’s bones’. Lady Franklin nevertheless continued to fund missions in search of her husband and his crew, defending them against lurid rumours of cannibalism and seeking proof that their exploration had not been in vain. Although none of Franklin’s crew was rescued alive, numerous traces were found (and later exhibited in London), and the missions produced valuable information which helped map northern Canada.

Designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1992, the wrecks of Franklin’s ships HMS Erebus and Terror were discovered only recently, in 2014 and 2016 respectively off King William Island. As climate change disrupts ice in the Arctic, the North-West passage has today become navigable for small ships.