Ensor usually based his graphics on his own drawings, or derived certain motifs from them. As far as is known, however, Ensor drew few landscapes. In view of the relatively large number of landscape etchings (about 20), it seems as if the artist went straight into nature with the etching plate. Ensor etched a few faces in the woods around Ostend and made a series of polder landscapes with villages, detached houses or windmills: Mariakerke, Leffinge, Slijkens and Oudenburg. As an etcher after nature, Ensor was especially fascinated by the rendering of the light in the woods and on the polder plain. He etched with small, nervous traits that tremble with tension. His landscapes are characterised by controlled, sparse writing, which gives them an evocative power. Among the landscape etchings, the "Grand View of Mariakerke" is the most balanced composition. It served as an example for a version in oil paint (Ostend, Mu.ZEE): on the etching and on the painting, the village is depicted in mirror image.
| Artist |
James Ensor
RKD
VIAF
Wikidata
|
|---|---|
| Title | Grand View of Mariakerke |
| Date | 1887 |
| Period | 19th century |
| Medium and support | etching AAT |
| Signatures, inscriptions, and markings | signatures (names) bottom left: Ensor |
| signature and year bottom right: James Ensor 87 | |
| inscription on the reverse: AT | |
| inscription on the reverse: H | |
| signatures (names) on the reverse: Ensor | |
| title on the reverse: [...] Mariakercke / [...] | |
| inscription on the reverse: 3819 / D. 13/ epreuve d'état : 81 : 4448 | |
| Collection | print room |
| Object type | etching AAT |
| Inventory number | 1998-B-13 |
| Acquisition credit |
purchase
Taevernier, Auguste (coll.) 1998 |
| Current whereabouts | Work currently not on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1998-B-13 |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/4006/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300236227
townscapes (representations)
AAT
300015636 landscapes AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
24F
firmament, sky
Iconclass
25H1 landscapes in the temperate zone Iconclass 25H1321 dunes (sea not visible); in the dunes Iconclass 25I22 prospect of village, silhouette of village Iconclass 26A clouds Iconclass 31A72 female sex; woman Iconclass 41A1 civic architecture; edifices; dwellings Iconclass 41D2632 parasol, sunshade Iconclass 61E(MARIAKERKE) names of cities and villages (MARIAKERKE) Iconclass 61E(OSTEND) names of cities and villages (OSTEND) 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. 13) |
| Albert Baertsoen : Protagonist van het fin de siècle (tentoonstelling Gent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 03.09 -27.11.2022) / René Vermeir, Johan De Smet, Stefan Huygebaert, Yann Farinaux-Le Sidaner, Stephen H. Goddard. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2022 ; Gent : Snoeck, 2022 (p. 29) |
| Albert Baertsoen : Protagoniste fin de siècle (exposition Gand, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand, 03.09 -27.11.2022) / René Vermeir, Johan De Smet, Stefan Huygebaert, Yann Farinaux-Le Sidaner, Stephen H. Goddard. - Gand : Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand, 2022 ; Gand : Snoeck, 2022 (p. 29) |
|
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