In 1904 Isaac Israels settled in Paris, where he would remain until 1913. Unlike Jan Sluijters, Israels was totally opposed to the revolutionary innovations of French artists at the beginning of the twentieth century. Israels continued to paint in his own, impressionistic style. In the self-portrait dating from 1919 the Mint Tower occupies a prominent place, as if Israels wishes to emphasize his ties with Amsterdam. In his early Amsterdam years he had made many studies of places close by the tower.