BRUXELLES

Gay & Douce, Libraires-Editeurs

There is 1 plate.

The book is 6 1/2“ wide x 4“ high.

The following paragraph was translated from French

At the XVIIe century, the influence of planets on the human behavior impassions the spirits and known ready with all the philosophical, poetic and scientific speculations.
The whimsical woman recognizes herself like one of the favorite reasons for the argument of the sexes which crossed the Rebirth and which feeds the literature and the iconography of the XVIIe century.
The moon, star female of cold and wet mood, the enemy one of the male, dispenser sun of vital fire, nourishes the satire and the burlesque one appreciated in the literature. ”
In this “invaluable” text, Miss of B *** exaggerates with pleasure the paradox. After the Sphere of the Moon made up of the head of the Woman, 1652, she will write the Reflexion of the Moon on the Men, 1654: “I recognized since not only this evil was inevitable for us, but still that it was very dangerous for the men who receive by the reflexion of the moon the cause of all their weaknesses.”

In 1843 he began his secondary education in Collège Notre-Dame de la Paix (Namur). There he received several excellent school reports for the quality of his work. He rapidly began to excel in Latin.
It is not known what caused Félicien Rops to adopt an anti-clerical and anti-conformist attitude, which led to his expulsion from this school. He then continued his studies at the Athénée in Namur. His father died in 1849.

Rops registered at the Academy of Art in Namur. At 18 he entered the Université Libre de Bruxelles (University of Brussels) where he moved in the intellectual, lampoonist and artistic circles of the time. He showed a talent as a fierce caricaturist, especially at the Charivari Belge and the "Uylenspiegel", which he founded with Charles de Coster in 1856, and where his lithographs were particularly appreciated.

Rops’ first works ("La peine de mort", "L’Ordre règne à Varsovie", "La médaille de Waterloo") express his revulsion and protestation at the disasters of his era. His talent would lead him subsequently to illustrate Flemish Legends by Charles de Coster.

In 1857, he married Charlotte Polet de Faveaux, daughter of a Namur lawyer. They had two children, a son Paul and a daughter, Juliette, who died at a young age.

His talent brought him recognition from several artists and opened the way towards Paris where during many visits he studied etching aquafortis with Bracquemond and Jacquemart. He had soon mastered all etching techniques, in particular soft etching, dry point and aquatint.

He frequented the Société des Aquafortistes (Etching Society) and during his return visits to Belgium, he founded the "Royal Nautical Club of the Sambre and Meuse" in Namur.

In 1864, he created a lithography of "L'enterrement en pays wallon" (funeral in Wallonia) which shows his sensitivity to the suffering of his fellowmen. It was during this time that he met Charles Baudelaire in Namur, thanks to the intervention of the editor Poulet-Malassis. The link between these two artists remained a strong one: Rops created the frontispiece for "Epaves", the condemned poems from "The Flowers of Evil".

In 1868 he was actively involved in the foundation of the Société Libre des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, of which he became the vice-president.

In 1869 he founded the Société Internationale des Aquafortistes (International Etching Society) in Brussels.

In 1870 he witnessed, together with Léon Dommartin and Camille Lemonnier, the battle of the Sedan, from which he brought back numerous sketches.

Rops moved definitively to Paris where he lived with the Duluc sisters, having met them six years earlier. His relationships with Aurélie and Léontine Duluc were the only ones to last among his many romantic liaisons. Léontine and he had a daughter, Claire, who married the Belgian writer Eugène Demolder.

At this time, Rops was the best-paid illustrator in Paris and worked for a good number of writers: Théophile Gautier, Alfred de Musset, Mallarmé, Barbey d’Aurevilly, Joséphin Pelladan, Octave Uzanne…

He drew on his numerous journeys (Norway, Sweden, Spain, Hungary, America, Canada…) and his visits to the Belgian coast for inspiration in developing his talents as a painter.

A period of maturity, where he also showed a remarkable talent for drawing, using with dexterity and refinement both pen and pencil, often enhanced with gouache, watercolours or pastels. He created "La tentation de Saint Antoine" (the Temptation of Saint Anthony), and "Pornokrates" (1878), the follow up to "Cent légers croquis pour réjouir les honnêtes gens" (100 lightweight sketches to delight honest people), "Les sataniques" (The Satanists)(1882) as well as the series of "Diaboliques" (Diabolicals) for Barbey d'Aurevilly (1884).

In 1886, Rops became a member of the XX Group, set up in 1884. The beginning of his friendship with the Liege artist Armand Rassenfosse. Together they developed a special etching technique and invented a soft transparent varnish, the "Ropsenfosse".

From 1892 on Rops suffered from a condition of the eyes. During the final ten years of his life, he continued to work in a peaceful atmosphere at the Demi-Lune, his property in Essonnes near Paris He gave full vent to his passion for botany and created new varieties of roses.

He never ceased to maintain an enthralling correspondence with his friends. He was an excellent letter writer and indeed several thousands of his letters have been preserved.

He died on 23 August 1898, at Essonnes, surrounded by Léontine, Aurélie and Claire and by his closest friends.