Fernand Khnopff Belgian, 1858-1921

Gilberte Thibaut de Maisières, Seneffe (the artist's niece)
Bernard Thibaut de Maisières, Brussels
Jean-Claude Brugnot, Paris
Sale: Sotheby's New York, 13 June 1980, lot 73
Barry Friedman Ltd., New York
Private Collection, Belgium (by 1987)
Sale: Christie's London, 6 February 2003, lot 406
Purchased by the present owner at the above sale

Chicago, David and Albert Smart Gallery; New York, Barry Friedman Ltd; Wilmington, Delaware Art Museum, Fernand Khnopff and the Belgian Avant-Garde, 1984, no. 32, p. 42, illustrated in the catalogue (with incorrect measurements)
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art; The Hague, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985, 1987

Lara Vinca Masini, Art Nouveau, London, 1984,  p. 121, no. 332, illustrated
Robert Delevoy, Catherine de Croës and Gisèle Ollinger-Zinque, Fernand Khnopff, Catalogue de l'oeuvre, Brussels, 1987,  pp. 394 & 483-484, no. 580, illustrated

This condition report has been provided by Jane McAusland FIIC, Conservator and Restorer of Art on Paper, Nether Hall Barn, Old Newton, Nr Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14. C O N D I T I O N R E P O R T SOTHEBY'S - SYMBOLISM AND THE POETIC VISION - 14 NOVEMBER 2007 Lot 256 Fernand Khnopff Belgian, 1858-1921 L'ENCENS Signed and dated A GILBERTE / Son oncle / FERNAND KHNOPFF l.r. Charcoal and coloured pencil on paper 27.3 x 19.5 cm Support Khnopff has used a sheet of medium thick wove paper upon which to execute this drawing. The condition of the sheet is good, though typically there is some 'time' staining. Medium The medium is in good order, though the slight darkening of the sheet has caused the contrasts to be less pronounced. Note: This work was viewed outside studio conditions. JANE McAUSLAND London office: Flat 3, 41 Lexington Street, Soho, London W1F 9AJ Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works Jane McAusland Limited trading as Jane McAusland FIIC
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Executed in 1917, the present work is a reprise of Khnopff's earlier oil of the same title of 1898 that was recently acquired by the Musee d'Orsay, Paris. Khnopff's return to the subject nearly twenty years later to mark the occasion of his niece's First Communion reveals the development of his artistic vision in the intervening years.

Set in the church of Notre Dame, Bruges, his depiction of the hieratic saint-like figure clad in richly embroidered cloth, the celestial orb behind her head, an incense burner in her left hand, her right hand posed as if in benediction perfectly suited the communion occasion. In addressing the subject anew, however, Khnopff made some significant changes.

Most immediately striking is the close-up focus that he has given to the present work. The edges of the composition have been dramatically cut down to reduce both extraneous drapery and the ecclesiastical setting. Even the top of the figure's head has been cropped. All the focus is thus now concentrated on the placement of the hands at right angles to each other and the face.

For the earlier canvas Khnopff based the features of the figure on his sister Marguerite, the personification of purity: cerebral, virginal and untouchable, the perfect inspiration for the Madonna-like composition in oil. In the present work, however, the face is no longer individualised; and although the figure's left hand still holds the incense burner, without context it is an object of curiosity. In turn her right hand is no longer about to pronounce a blessing. Instead it appears, slightly self-consciously, to caress her cheek. The result is the transposition of a specific religious type into a secular image of idealised beauty - an archetypal Khnopff heroine.