James Ensor
Belgian, 1860-1949
La Cathédrale (The Cathedral), 1886
Etching

This early etching by James Ensor was celebrated as one of the artist's quintessential compositions during his lifetime. An imposing cathedral towers over an immense crowd. Like a living foundation, a throng of festivalgoers presses forward, ahead of row after row of soldiers wearing sashes, epaulets, and tall caps. This mass of bodies recedes all the way to the church walls, achieving remarkable depth of field. Ensor pieced together architectural elements from three existing churches which he had seen in magazines. From this architectural patchwork, Ensor distills an imaginary church, at once familiar and unfamiliar: the essence of a Gothic cathedral. In this intense composition the complementary forces of community and architecture fuse into a symbol of unified spirituality, like a living monument to God.