Carel de Nerée tot Babberich - Nu rococo sur tabouret
Carel de Nerée tot Babberich (1880–1909)
Nu rococo sur tabouret
Circa 1904
Pen and brush with ink on paper
36.5 × 30 cm
Provenance:
Wouter van Leeuwen, Amsterdam, circa 2000; private collection.
Literature:
Illustrated in Sander Bink, Verfijnde Lijnen: Carel de Nerée tot Babberich, 1880–1909, WBOOKS, 2025, no. 152.
Exhibitions:
Haagse Kunstkring, 1910; Arti, 1910; Singer, 1974–75.
Additional information:
The richly decorated tabouret on which the nude figure sits appears to be directly inspired by Aubrey Beardsley’s The Toilette of Salomé (1899). Beardsley had a major influence on De Nerée’s early development. While Beardsley made his figure strongly subordinate to the decorative setting, De Nerée chose a freer and less formal composition.
The eyes and breasts immediately draw the viewer’s attention. They are rendered with exceptionally fine lines and small dots. The remaining lines and areas are treated more loosely and sketchily. This contrast gives the work its distinctive tension and creates a pronounced erotic quality.
As often in De Nerée’s work, the eroticism arises through suggestion as much as through explicit imagery. The figures seem to dissolve partly into their surroundings, while the gaze and physical presence remain strikingly prominent. The work reflects the decadent atmosphere of the European fin de siècle, where beauty, desire and mystery continually overlap.
The drawing also reflects the queer sensibility present in several of De Nerée’s works. Gender, sensuality and identity remain deliberately ambiguous and elusive. This gives the work a strikingly modern quality from a contemporary perspective.
Carel de Nerée tot Babberich (1880–1909) was one of the most intriguing Dutch Symbolists of his generation. Well versed in literature and active within The Hague’s society, he developed a visual language strongly influenced by Aubrey Beardsley. His work is characterised by refined draughtsmanship, a Gothic atmosphere and subtle decadence.