Carel de Nerée tot Babberich (1880–1909)
Nude before a Balustrade in a Mountain Landscape
c. 1905–07
Pencil and watercolour on paper
28.8 × 47.5 cm
Literature:
Illustrated in Sander Bink, Verfijnde Lijnen: Carel de Nerée tot Babberich, 1880–1909, WBOOKS (2025), pp. 306–307.
Information:
On 4 July 1906, after meeting De Nerée, Albert Plasschaert noted in his diary that the artist wanted to move from “flat surface decoration” towards “giving bodies more form”. This work may be one of the finest examples of that development.
During his final years, De Nerée became fascinated by the work of the Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler. He later even referred to having “done a bit of Hodler”. In this series of watercolours, the decorative lines of his earlier work recede partly into the background and a new interest in volume, landscape and physicality emerges.
The balustrade, mountainous horizon and intense blue colours recur in several works from this period and probably refer to the Swiss health resorts where De Nerée stayed. They may even be impressions of existing views from Leysin, Montreux or Clarens.
At the same time, the work is anything but naturalistic. The figure wears high heels and adopts a strikingly theatrical pose in which the hips are emphasised, making an elegant hand gesture that recurs in related compositions such as Standing Nude with Flower. The result is an image that is simultaneously sensual, alienating and remarkably modern.
With its combination of gender ambiguity, eroticism and an almost proto-expressionist treatment of colour and form, the work ranks among the most radical and forward-looking parts of De Nerée’s oeuvre.
Carel de Nerée tot Babberich (1880–1909) was one of the most intriguing Dutch Symbolists of his generation. Highly literary, charismatic and active in Hague society, he developed a visual language strongly influenced by Aubrey Beardsley: graphically refined, Gothic in atmosphere and infused with decadence.
