About this
work
Object details
- Title:
- Maria Sèthe, the Future Mrs. Henry Van de Velde
- Date:
- 1891
- Dimensions:
- 120 × 86 cm
- Inventory number:
- 2690
- Inscriptions:
- upper middle: 18 TVR 91
More about this work
Informal
This is Marie-Louise or Maria Sethe (1867–1942). The young blonde woman appears in various works by Theo Van Rysselberghe, always in a way that shows off her features to best advantage. This canvas shows her seated sideways on a chair by a harmonium – Sethe was an excellent pianist – but her attention is focused on the source of the light streaming in from the left. Portraits evoking a sense of informality were common in the second half of the nineteenth century. Maria is wearing a purple dress – a fashionable colour at the time, but unusual in a painting. The curtains are purple too. Colour plays a leading role here.
Van Rysselberghe and his wife Maria Monnom were close friends of the wealthy Sethe family from Uccle, who were well disposed towards the cultural avant-garde. Theo painted their three daughters and also gave art lessons to Maria.
By 1891, the ambitious portraitist had already been painting in the Pointillist style at a high international level for about four years. He showed this portrait, for example, in Paris, Brussels, Antwerp and The Hague. Van Rysselberghe familiarised himself with the technique through the Parisian painter Georges Seurat and remained a brilliant practitioner of it for fifteen years. The basic principle of the Pointillist or Neo-Impressionist style is that you place more or less pure colours on the canvas in small dots next to each other. These colours are then ‘blended’ into the desired hue in the viewer’s eye. The effect was a recent scientific discovery at the time. To achieve a true-to-life portrait of his sitters, Van Rysselberghe used smaller, not entirely orthodox dots for their facial features. He accentuated the locks of hair and the contours of the face with thin brushstrokes.
In 1894, Maria Sethe married the renowned artist and architect Henry Van de Velde. The couple had seven children. Maria worked closely with her husband, who was frequently absent, including a period in exile in Switzerland during the First World War. This portrait was invariably given a place of honour in the houses Van de Velde built for his family in Uccle, Weimar, Wassenaar and Tervuren.
This is Marie-Louise or Maria Sethe (1867–1942). The young blonde woman appears in various works by Theo Van Rysselberghe, always in a way that shows off her features to best advantage. This canvas shows her seated sideways on a chair by a harmonium – Sethe was an excellent pianist – but her attention is focused on the source of the light streaming in from the left. Portraits evoking a sense of informality were common in the second half of the nineteenth century. Maria is wearing a purple dress – a fashionable colour at the time, but unusual in a painting. The curtains are purple too. Colour plays a leading role here.
Van Rysselberghe and his wife Maria Monnom were close friends of the wealthy Sethe family from Uccle, who were well disposed towards the cultural avant-garde. Theo painted their three daughters and also gave art lessons to Maria.
By 1891, the ambitious portraitist had already been painting in the Pointillist style at a high international level for about four years. He showed this portrait, for example, in Paris, Brussels, Antwerp and The Hague. Van Rysselberghe familiarised himself with the technique through the Parisian painter Georges Seurat and remained a brilliant practitioner of it for fifteen years. The basic principle of the Pointillist or Neo-Impressionist style is that you place more or less pure colours on the canvas in small dots next to each other. These colours are then ‘blended’ into the desired hue in the viewer’s eye. The effect was a recent scientific discovery at the time. To achieve a true-to-life portrait of his sitters, Van Rysselberghe used smaller, not entirely orthodox dots for their facial features. He accentuated the locks of hair and the contours of the face with thin brushstrokes.
In 1894, Maria Sethe married the renowned artist and architect Henry Van de Velde. The couple had seven children. Maria worked closely with her husband, who was frequently absent, including a period in exile in Switzerland during the First World War. This portrait was invariably given a place of honour in the houses Van de Velde built for his family in Uccle, Weimar, Wassenaar and Tervuren.
Acquisition history
purchase: Henry Van de Velde, 1949
Copyright and legal
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