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Lot Essay
To be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist's work, currently being prepared by the Belgian Art Research Institute.
In the years between 1911 and 1920, James Ensor was particularly interested in representing the theme 'The life of Christ'. During this period he executed a series of lithographs, published in 1921 as the famous album Scènes de la vie du Christ. One of these lithographs, 'La pêche miraculeuse', is very similar in composition to the present lot and must have been the starting-point for this painting. A good friend of Ensor's commissioned the work, but it was the artist himself who proposed the subject that clearly fascinated him.
With its vivid colours and interesting composition, the present lot is typically Ensorian. It contains all the caracteristics of the later style period of the artist, with the bright colours of the fishes in the net on the foreground, and the flowing, elegant design of the boat and the waves, contrasting with the calm horizontal lines of the mountain in the background.
Of particular interest is the material execution of 'The miraculous draught'. Though painted in oil, the work has the features of a fresco executed in tempera, because of the absorbing canvas Ensor used. Furthermore, the peculiar composition of the painting makes it one of the most interesting and intriguing works of Ensor's later style period.
In the years between 1911 and 1920, James Ensor was particularly interested in representing the theme 'The life of Christ'. During this period he executed a series of lithographs, published in 1921 as the famous album Scènes de la vie du Christ. One of these lithographs, 'La pêche miraculeuse', is very similar in composition to the present lot and must have been the starting-point for this painting. A good friend of Ensor's commissioned the work, but it was the artist himself who proposed the subject that clearly fascinated him.
With its vivid colours and interesting composition, the present lot is typically Ensorian. It contains all the caracteristics of the later style period of the artist, with the bright colours of the fishes in the net on the foreground, and the flowing, elegant design of the boat and the waves, contrasting with the calm horizontal lines of the mountain in the background.
Of particular interest is the material execution of 'The miraculous draught'. Though painted in oil, the work has the features of a fresco executed in tempera, because of the absorbing canvas Ensor used. Furthermore, the peculiar composition of the painting makes it one of the most interesting and intriguing works of Ensor's later style period.