Rops, Félicien

PAINTER, GRAPHICAL ARTIST (BELGIUM)
BORN 10 Jul 1833, Namur - DIED 24 Aug 1898, Corbeil-Essonnes, Seine-et-Oise: Demi-Lune property
GRAVE LOCATION Mettet: Cimetière, Rue du Cimetière

Félicien Rops was educated as a lawyer. He inherited a huge fortune from his parents. After he had spend it he started drawing caricatures for magazines. His graphical abilities were formidable and he was well known as a book illustrator. He also used his talents to create pornographic images. His followers claimed that he had highter motives for doing so. He was influenced by Baudelaire and he met him in 1864. In 1868 he became vice president of the Societé Libre des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.

In 1857 he had married Charlotte Polet de Faveaux, the daughter of a judge from Namur. They had two children. After the marriage failed he settled in 1874 Paris with the Duluc sisters, whom he had met six years before. In 1870 Léontine Duloc (1862-1919) had born him a daughter, Claire, who married the Belgian author Eugène Demolder. The Duluc sisters were dressmakers and they both became his mistresses. In 1879 he made fashion sketches for their fashion house. Amélie Leduc bore him a son in 1892, but he died soon after he was born. Apart from the Duluc sisters he had liaisons with several other women.

In 1884 Rops bought the property of Demi Lune at the banks of the Seine in Corbeil-Essonnes, near the forest of Fontainebleau. In 1887 he travelled the USA with the Duluc sisters. When he died in 1898 on his property the Duluc sisters and other relatives were near.

Rops was a friend of Charles de Coster, whose "Tyl Uilenspiegel" he illustrated. He was a member of the freemasons.

Related persons
• was influenced by Baudelaire, Charles
• was a friend of Coster, Charles de

Images

The grave of Félicien Rops at the cemetery of Mettet.
Picture by Androom (15 Mar 2008)

 

The grave of Félicien Rops at the cemetery of Mettet.
Picture by Androom (15 Mar 2008)

 

"La Dame au Pantin et à l'éventail".
   (1873, Namur: Musée Félicien Rops)
 

"Pornocratès".
   (1878, Namur: Musée Félicien Rops)
 

"Maturité".
   (1886, Namur: Musée Félicien Rops)
 

Sources
De Volkskrant
Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909


Roqueplan, Camille

Published: 16 Mar 2008
Last update: 14 Feb 2022