In the print "My Portrait in 1960", Ensor tried to imagine what he would look like as a centenarian: a skeletal creature, leaning back, having given up the 'fight for life'. From his skull, confused hair still sprouts, from which the waviness has already completely disappeared. Beside him moves a giant spider that regularly haunts Ensor in portraits from this period as a symbol of his worries. Three snails appear at the feet of the skeleton, which is still wearing a kind of slipper. This kind of macabre fantasy recalls ecclesiastical grave sculptures in which the deceased is depicted in an extreme state of decomposition. According to his contemporaries, Ensor called this print 'simple anticipation'.
| Artist |
James Ensor
RKD
VIAF
Wikidata
|
|---|---|
| Title | My Portrait in 1960 |
| Date | 1888 |
| Period | 19th century |
| Medium and support | etching AAT |
| Signatures, inscriptions, and markings | signature and year in the depiction, at the bottom right: Ensor 88 |
| signature and year bottom right, outside the depiction: James Ensor 1888 | |
| inscription on the reverse: AT | |
| inscription on the reverse: [...] / [...] 1960 | |
| Collection | print room |
| Object type | etching AAT |
| Inventory number | 1998-B-34 |
| Acquisition credit |
purchase
Taevernier, Auguste (coll.) 1998 |
| Current whereabouts | Work currently not on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1998-B-34 |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/4039/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300015637
portraits
AAT
300189808 figures (representations) AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
11R5
(personifications of) 'Vanitas', the vanity of human life; Fragilita humana, Fugacita delle grandezze della gloria mondana, Meditatione della morte, Opera vana, Piacere vano, Vana gloria, Vanita (Ripa)
Iconclass
25F72(SNAIL) molluscs: snail Iconclass 31A21 (human) skeleton Iconclass 31A211 (human) skull Iconclass 31A22621 hair Iconclass 31A236 lying figure Iconclass 31A2422 head turned to the right Iconclass 31D41(100) ... years old (100) Iconclass 31F11 death's head, skull (symbol of Death) Iconclass 41D23322 slippers Iconclass 47H31 spinning (manufacture of yarn) Iconclass 48C513 portrait, self-portrait of painter Iconclass 52A4 Imagination; 'Imaginatione' (Ripa) Iconclass 52A44 Fantasy, Caprice; 'Capriccio' (Ripa) Iconclass 61B2 historical persons Iconclass 61B2(JAMES ENSOR) historical person (JAMES ENSOR) Iconclass |
| School / Style |
phantasy
Symbolism (artistic concept) AAT satire (artistic device) 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. 34) |
| 200 jaar verzamelen : Collectieboek Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent / Arnout Balis, Robert Hoozee, Maximiliaan P.J. Martens, Paul Van Haute. - Gent : Ludion, 2000 (p. 268 (ill. 125)) |
| Kunstenaarsportretten (uit Antwerpen, Brugge en Gent : tentoonstelling Gent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 26 mei - 19 augustus 2007) / Dorine Cardyn-Oomen, Nanny Schrijvers, Monique Tahon-Vanroose. - Gent : Vlaamse Kunstcollectie, 2007 (p. 74-75, nr. 80 (ill.)) |
| James Ensor : Schrecken ohne Ende (Ausstellung Wuppertal, Von der Heydt-Museum, 12. Oktober 2008 - 8. februar 2009) / Gerhard Finckh, Joachim Heusinger von Waldegg, Herwig Todts, Norbert Hostyn. - Wuppertal : Von der Heydt-Museum, 2008 |
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