The Multiplication of the Fishes
Artist / maker
James Ensor (etchers)Date
1891Period
19th centuryCollection
Museum of Fine Arts Ghent
The theme of Christ has a prominent place in Ensor's pictorial and graphic oeuvre. In the 1890s his work acquired a strikingly satirical content and the artist made increasing use of linear arabesques. Such mass scenes, populated by grotesque figures, repeatedly recur in paintings, drawings and prints. It is noteworthy that Ensor transposed the theme to his own time, depicting…
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The theme of Christ has a prominent place in Ensor's pictorial and graphic oeuvre. In the 1890s his work acquired a strikingly satirical content and the artist made increasing use of linear arabesques. Such mass scenes, populated by grotesque figures, repeatedly recur in paintings, drawings and prints. It is noteworthy that Ensor transposed the theme to his own time, depicting a fanfaresque procession of folk, carnival figures, gendarmes, etc. Behind the figure of Christ, stout, surly-looking citizens watch the popular entertainment. The inscriptions on the banners, "Fanfares doctrinaires. Toujours réussis" and "Alimentation doctrinaire", illustrate the bourgeois condescension. Apart from a few details, the print is based entirely on the chalk drawing of the same name from 1891 (Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, inv. 2739).
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