“Un geste d’offrande (A Gesture of Offering) was included in the album published by the Société des Aquafortistes Belges in 1901 to mark its fifteenth anniversary. Khnopff created two states of this print. The Bruges example is an impression of the second and final state, in which several decorative elements were reworked; he also added subtle hatching to the table and the woman’s clothing to enhance the shadow effect. At the bottom of the print is a discreet rectangular dry stamp bearing the text: Sté/ACQUAF./BELGES.

For this work, Khnopff based himself on a photograph of his younger sister Marguerite, his favorite model. The etching deviates only slightly from the photograph but shows the figure in mirror image. This print, with its particularly refined linework, illustrates how deeply Khnopff was fascinated by the female profile and by the themes of solitude and silence.” (https://vlaamsekunstcollectie.be/nieuws/fernand-khnopff-musea-brugge)

“Khnopff was especially attached to the dry-point etching A gesture of offering (1900; cat. 197). Whilst visiting Khnopff's house, Maria Biermé noticed that this etching was framed and hung between a number of drawings on the wall of the gallery leading to the studio." In the final version, produced on black paper, the decorative elements were re-worked: a flower was added to the plant in the young girl's hand, more rings were on the ring finger, and the table and clothing were subtly shaded in some places to obtain a more pronounced shadow effect. In this version, Khnopff's name is nowhere to be found, in contrast to the first state on lighter paper, which he had signed in lead pencil. 8 Several prints on silk were made of this etching, of which some were touched up (cat. 197).” (Excerpt from Fernand Khnopff catalogue).

“For some compositions, only the photograph remains to testify to the existence of a work that has now disappeared. The photograph showing Marguerite with her eyes closed, her head crowned with laurel, striking variants of a pose, forms the basis of the drawing The dreamer (1900), the whereabouts of which is unknown, and the etching A gesture of offering (1900; cat. 197).8” (Excerpt from Fernand Khnopff catalogue).

Fernand Khnopff had a recent important solo exhibition at Petit Palais in Paris in 2018-2019 !