The print "My Dead Father" depicts James Frederic Ensor (1835-1887) on his deathbed. The print is based on a drawing from 1887 (collection unknown), which in turn was made after a photograph by the Ostend photographer Eclair le Bon. This sensitive portrait bears witness to Ensor's admiration for his father, as is also shown in a letter from the artist to the art critic Jules Du Jardin: "He was a man who knew a lot and spoke several languages. He was strikingly beautiful and strongly built. He had a noble forehead and his whole person radiated majesty. He always inspired a kind of fearful respect in me. He was truly a superior man."
| Artist |
James Ensor
RKD
VIAF
Wikidata
|
|---|---|
| Title | My Dead Father |
| Date | 1888 |
| Period | 19th century |
| Medium and support | drypoint AAT |
| Signatures, inscriptions, and markings | signatures (names) bottom left: Ensor |
| signatures (names) bottom right: James Ensor | |
| inscription on the reverse: AT | |
| inscription on the reverse: [...] coll[...] Boo[...] / 9. 11 [?]. 50 | |
| inscription on the reverse: mon père mort / pointe sèche / 1er état | |
| Collection | print room |
| Object type | drypoint AAT |
| Inventory number | 1998-B-35-1 |
| Acquisition credit |
purchase
Taevernier, Auguste (coll.) 1998 |
| Current whereabouts | Work currently not on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1998-B-35-1 |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/4040/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300015637
portraits
AAT
300189808 figures (representations) AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
31A236
lying figure
Iconclass
31A71 male sex; man Iconclass 31D16 old man Iconclass 31E death of human being Iconclass 31E3 the corpse Iconclass 42G2111 father (first degree family relationships) Iconclass 61B2 historical persons Iconclass 61B2(JAMES FREDERIC ENSOR) historical person (JAMES FREDERIC ENSOR) Iconclass |
| School / Style | realism (artistic form of expression) AAT |
| James Ensor : Catalogue illustré de ses gravures ; Leur description critique et l'inventaire des plaques = Geïllustreerde catalogus van zijn gravures ; Hun kritische beschrijving en inventaris van de platen = Illustrated catalogue of his engravings ; Their critical description and inventary of the plates / Auguste Taevernier. - Ledeberg (Gent) : Erasmus Boekhandel bv Amsterdam, 1973 (nr. 35) |
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