This etching illustrates the third part of Christ's temptation by the devil. The devil takes Christ to a high mountain to show him all the kingdoms of the world. Ensor mentioned this scene in a draft of a letter (Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, inv. 2712/219 r°). He writes that he is working on several compositions, including "The Temptation of Christ", for which he had already made a pen-and-ink drawing: "The devil shows with a broad gesture a vast landscape dotted with monuments, pyramids, Gothic churches, Greek temples, pagodas ... The Palace of Justice and the Town Hall of Brussels. The shadow of the devil partly covers this landscape." Ensor may have drawn inspiration from Honoré Daumier's related print "Le Tentateur", which the Frenchman published in Le Charivari in 1851.
| Artist |
James Ensor
RKD
VIAF
Wikidata
|
|---|---|
| Title | The Temptation of Christ |
| Date | 1888 |
| Period | 19th century |
| Medium and support | etching AAT |
| Signatures, inscriptions, and markings | signatures (names) top right: Ensor |
| signature and year bottom right: James Ensor 1888 | |
| inscription on the reverse: AT | |
| inscription on the reverse: 18 / LD60 / Le christ tenté - La tentation du Christ | |
| Collection | print room |
| Object type | etching AAT |
| Inventory number | 1998-B-60-1 |
| Acquisition credit |
purchase
Taevernier, Auguste (coll.) 1998 |
| Current whereabouts | Work currently not on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1998-B-60-1 |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/4074/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300055874
religious symbolism
AAT
300056485 fantastic art AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
11D
Christ
Iconclass
11K devil(s) and demons Iconclass 11K2 devils in the form of (fabulous) animals Iconclass 11K4 activities of devil(s) Iconclass 11K41 devil(s) appearing to mortals, trying to seduce them; temptation Iconclass 22C31 radiance emanating from persons or things Iconclass 24A sun as celestial body Iconclass 25I city-view, and landscape with man-made constructions Iconclass 25I12 prospect of city, town panorama, silhouette of city Iconclass 41A1 civic architecture; edifices; dwellings Iconclass 41A14 urban housing Iconclass 44B233 Town hall Iconclass 52A4 Imagination; 'Imaginatione' (Ripa) Iconclass 52A44 Fantasy, Caprice; 'Capriccio' (Ripa) Iconclass 61E(BRUSSELS) names of cities and villages (BRUSSELS) Iconclass 61F(PALAIS DE JUSTICE) names of historical buildings, sites, streets, etc. (PALAIS DE JUSTICE) Iconclass 61F(TOWN HALL) names of historical buildings, sites, streets, etc. (TOWN HALL) Iconclass 73 New Testament Iconclass 73C2 story of the temptation of Christ in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13) Iconclass |
| School / Style |
phantasy
satire (artistic device) AAT historicism (theory) AAT |
| Henri Leys, Henri de Braekeleer, James Ensor / Loys Delteil. - Paris : Chez l'Auteur, 1925 (nr. 60) |
| 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. 60) |
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