The sketch of the painter and graphic artist Henry De Groux belongs to an extensive series of drawings that Ensor made around 1883 of his family and friends. Ensor did not regard them as portrait studies; they are rather fragmented observations of his immediate surroundings. In the 1880s, Ensor maintained a friendly relationship with De Groux, whom he knew through the circle of Brussels art association Les XX. Later on, this relationship changed completely, and Ensor even incorporated the figure of De Groux in satirical paintings.