Captured Woman

This Ghent sculptor, who trained at the local Academy of Fine Arts, remained faithful to his city throughout his life. He is the prototype of the bourgeois sculptor, combining classicism and anecdotal subjects that are not very disturbing but also not very innovative. He specialised in the execution of busts and young women such as Captured Woman or Oppressed, both belonging to the MSK. Captured Woman, presented at the Antwerp Salon in 1891, was a great success with the public and the critics. Only the rope around the wrists alludes to the title of the sculpture. The young woman, barefoot and wearing a timeless dress, symbolises a state rather than a historical episode. Nevertheless, this amiable representation is characterised by a sensitive rendering of the model's melancholic features and the play of the draperies.