James Ensor (1860-1949) - Study after the antique
Charcoal on paper. Executed in 1878.
29.1 x 16.9 inches, 74 x 43 cm. Estimate: €5,000-7,000.
Sold De Vuyst, Lokeren, Belguim, 6 March 2021 for €7,500 + B.P.
From 1877-1880 Ensor attended the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. This drawing, from that time, depicts the Standing Discobulus, originally a Greek bronze statue attributed to Naukydes (c.420-390 B.C.), now lost. There is a Roman cast in the Louvre. Small-scale replicas of classical statues were a common teaching aid for students.
“In 1877 I entered the Brussels Academy. For three years in the evening I’d draw after the models from Antiquity, during the day I painted from living models, at night I composed or mapped my dreams. In 1880 I left that myopic loft, to follow my fantasy and my painterly duty to make light.” - Ensor
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