When the Belgian novelist Charles de Coster (1827-1879) introduced Mellery to the Dutch island Marken, it propelled his artistic output towards the naturalistic movement of the Belgian avant-garde. A fishermen's village frozen in time would cause a pivotal turn in the artist's career and provide content to be revisited over many decades to follow. Traditional costumes, based on sixteenth century fashion worn by the isolated islanders, contributed to capturing an idealized life, like Bruges and its Beguines would later. Although there is different garb for different seasons, for weddings and funerals, in general the clothing is egalitarian in that the entire community wears the same. Marken was a refuge for a nostalgic longing for the past, much desired in a time of ever progressing socialization and shifting of society in which there was no longer a place for tradition.[1] Mellery elucidated about his experience in 1899:

Charles de Coster ... invited me to illustrate his Isle of Marken, written for the Tour du Monde. I accepted his proposal and took my box of colors. De Coster, already ill, died during my stay in the island. I was very touched, for, although I had only known him for a short time, his narration of the island of Marken and the country he had made known to me had made me love him, and I should have wanted to see him again. I took some notes for the series of drawings he had asked for. I also made paintings, both of interiors and of the inhabitants. I spent more than two months on the island without leaving it. This island, situated at the end of the world, in the Zuiderzee, with its patriarchal manners, its interiors, and its most picturesque customs, gave me impressions of true joy which, though not profound, were indeed part of the domain of art.[2]

Although it is generally assumed that Mellery's stayed on Marken for a total length of two years as his painting Intérieur dans l’ile de Marken is dated 1878, a shorter stay of two months on the island in May 1879 as described above seems more plausible. Although it is generally assumed that Mellery's stayed on Marken for a total length of two years as his painting Intérieur dans l’ile de Marken is dated 1878, a shorter stay of two months on the island in May 1879 as described above seems more plausible.

It is unlikely that Mellery arrived in the Netherlands before De Coster since he follows the authors narration quite literally. De Coster's travelogue was posthumously published in 1880 in Le Tour du Monde, illustrated with seven engravings based on Mellery's drawings.[3] Mellery rarely dated his work and therefore the publication establishes a timeline for the works that were most likely completed in situ on the island. That Marken remained on Mellery's mind is evident from later works that would continue to inhabit the isolated island.

Mellery’s visit represented a turning point in his career: distancing himself from his academic training, he introduced ideas of social conditions, heredity and environment as inescapable forces in shaping human character. Portraying the inner life of things, the meditative silence, achieved through the use of a restricted palette, Mellery's mortals are elevated to enigmatic relics from another era. While the drawings made on the island closely follow De Coster's narrative, Mellery would continue to produce paintings and drawings exhibited at the salon Les XX in 1885 and throughout his career.[4] These later drawings are more stylized with sometimes gold backgrounds evoking Byzantine portraits and embellished with formal titles like The Holy Family, recently acquired by The Rijksmuseum.

[1] Hans Kraan, Dromen van Holland. Buitenlandse kunstenaars schilderen Holland 1800-1914, Zwolle 2002, pp. 186-187

[2] Letter from Mellery, dated 14 November 1899, in: Jules du Jardin, Les artistes contemporains, Brussel 1900, pp. 58-66

[3] Le Tour du Monde. Nouveau Journal des Voyages, Vol. 40, 1880, pp. 129-144

[4] Gisèle Ollinger-Zinque a.o., Les XX & La Libre Esthétique. Cent ans après, Brussels 1993, p. 283