MARCEL VICTOR d’ETERNOD

(1891 - Geneva - 1971)

Portrait of a Soldier in Profile

Signed and dated lower right M d’Eternod 1918

Oil on canvas

18 x 14 ¾ inches (46 x 37.5 cm)

The surname of Swiss artist Marcel Victor d’Eternod derives from the hamlet of Eternod, which is in the Aosta Valley in Italy close to the Swiss border. He studied with the renowned painter Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) in Geneva from 1913 to 1914, and later continued his education in London, Edinburgh, and Paris. His travels later took him to Tunisia, Morocco, Italy, and Spain.  D’Eternod produced mainly landscapes, often of spacious Swiss mountain views (Figure 1 and 2). He also painted numerous portraits, and those from the early 20th century, as exemplified in Portrait of a Soldier in Profile, clearly reveal the influence of Hodler in their directness and application of thick paint. Hodler’s man in uniform of 1915 (Figure 3) proves that D’Eternod was not only affected by his teacher’s style, but also his subject matter. It is certainly possible that d’Eternod was also familiar with the uniformed figures of Vincent van Gogh and Max Liebermann, whose brushy, powerful works were owned by the Swiss collector Georg Reinhart (1877-1955) (Figures 4 and 5).[1] Like the Hodler prototype, the unknown soldier in the current work is shown in profile against a plain background. Also, as with Hodler’s depiction, the collar of the uniform comes right up to under the sitter’s neck, and the creases of the sleeves are emphasized. D’Eternod, however, portrays his soldier wearing a sharply projecting cap that gives his composition an added sense of dynamism, contrasting with the man’s passive features. Although Switzerland remained neutral during World War I, the country’s army was mobilized to protect the borders, explaining why this soldier was wearing his in uniform in 1918. 

[1] See Dieter Schwarz, Die Sammlung Georg Reinhart, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, 1998, pp. 50 and 59, (cat. nos. 20 and 32).