Portrait of the Artist's Father

The painter and draughtsman Dick Ket was born with a heart condition that confined him to his home throughout his brief life. He lived with his parents in the village of Bennekom in the Dutch province of Gelderland. Ket concentrated on subjects in his immediate surroundings. He produced a large oeuvre of self-portraits and still lifes, many of them featuring the same attributes and objects. His style of painting was crisp and precise, as were his drawings, which are mostly uncoloured works in charcoal, chalk, or pen and black ink.
This monumental portrait is one of Ket’s largest drawings, larger even than most of his paintings. Executed in different shades of black, it depicts an old man with his hands resting in his lap. He wears a hat and a black coat with deep folds and a wide collar. Ket would most likely have chosen the attributes, which he rendered in detail. The coat was probably military issue, as Ket’s father had been an assistant pharmacist in the army up to the time of his retirement. Ket was close to his father and portrayed him in several paintings and drawings. The museum has eight more works by Ket, including a painted self-portrait. [tekst: Jonieke van Es]