Giulio Cesare Procaccni (1574–1625), Adoration of the Magi. Oil on canvas, 214 x 144 cm. © Agnews

George Minne (Ghent 1866-1941 Sint-Martens-Latem), Head of a Man. White marble, 58.5 x 53 x 48 cm (23 x 21 x 19 in.). Signed on the left shoulder 'GMINNE'. Executed circa 1910-13. © Agnews

During his Symbolist period, Minne left Brussels in 1899 to live again in his native Ghent, where he explored new techniques and subjects. After 1900, times had changed. The fin de siècle spirit was over, and the next century brought new fears and new energy, especially in Belgium, where social ideas grew. He looked for a new style, something much more brusque than his previous work. 

Minne worked on developing a new style and from 1910 spent time at the University of Ghent studying muscles, bones, skeletons, and cadavers. He focused his attention on a particular model, Eduard Lacaege, a worker from the docks, who was portrayed in five different works by Minne. This frontal portrait of Eduard is certainly the best and the only one recorded in white marble. Minne approached Eduard’s body differently than his former models: the characteristic fragility of the various kneeling youths is absent from this monumental sculpture of an older man. The Art Nouveau sinuous lines and simplification of the body were replaced by a detailed depiction of the musculature, the veins, the bones and the folds of the skin. The final effect is striking, both a link to the past and to the future. Like the head of a Roman emperor, the sculpture imposes a sense of superiority, but it also announces the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) of the young Weimar Republic in the 1920s, as a reaction against Expressionism. The portrait is not one of the workers bending down under social determinism or inspired by social realism. To the contrary, it exhibits a very strong affirmation of a powerful man, striving to realize his own destiny, solidly fixed in reality. 
This series of sculptures inspired by the physiognomy of Eduard Lacaege, marked the revival of George Minne’s success and recognition in Belgium and in Germany, where his influence was still very deep felt.

Provenance: Armand Colle, Ghent, before 1982; Collection ACLVB, Ghent

Exhibition: Ghent, Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Gand, 1913, no. 667, p. 74; Ghent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, George Minne en de Kunst rond 1900, 1982, no. 154, pp. 224-25 (illustrated)

Thomas Agnew & Sons was established by Thomas Agnew in Manchester in 1817, and opened its London gallery in 1860, where the firm soon established itself as one of Mayfair’s leading dealerships. Since then Agnew’s has held a pre-eminent position in the world of Old Master paintings, and was instrumental in promoting contemporary British art in the late 19th century. Over generations, Agnew’s has acted as principal agents and advisors to some of the most important collectors of their time, including Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, Alfred Beit, Alfred and Ferdinand de Rothschild and more recently Paul Mellon, Norton Simon and the Samuel Kress Foundation. Agnew’s also often served as agent for the National Gallery, London in the auction rooms and has been involved in placing masterpieces in major museums around the world. The gallery has handled works by, amongst others, Caravaggio, Van Dyck, El Greco, Frans Hals, Poussin, Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, Titian, Turner and Velázquez.

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