Klinger Dead Mother (Vom Tode II, plate 10) 1889 {1891} NGV [ET]

Klinger, Max (1857-1920; German)
Dead Mother (Tote Mutter) [Vom Tode II, plate 10] 1889
Engraving and etching printed on chine applique, 38.4 × 29.6 cm (image), 45.4 × 34.7 cm (plate), 61.0 × 45.7 cm (sheet)
Purchased, 1891 (advice of Hubert von Herkomer)
National Gallery of Victoria (p.188.2-1)

This moody print is one of two acquired for Melbourne from Klinger’s second series on death, at the same time as the complete first series (Klinger Vom Tode I [Plates 1-10] 1889 {1891} NGV [ET]).

The child in this image seems ambiguous: orphaned and bereft, or an alarming kind of succubus?

Refs.

AR 1891, p.26; NGV 1894, p.70 (III.Vestibule, no.22); NGV 1905, p.108 (IV.Vestibule, no.25) [£9]

The NGV catalogue identifies this impression as the 4^th state (citing Singer)