Rops Félicien (namur 1833 –1898 Corbeil-essonnes) Woman From Behind

ROPS Félicien (Namur 1833 –1898 Corbeil-Essonnes)
Woman from behind
Black stone gouache
16 x 12 cm
Circa 1864

Trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Namur, Félicien Rops then joined the Atelier St Luc in Brussels. His work at the “Charivari de Bruxelles” in 1856 led him to found his own satirical newspaper: “Uylenspiegel” after inheriting from his father. He experimented with the different possibilities of engravings, etchings, lithographs that he could combine. His gifts of observation and his curiosity for the female subject seem to predate Toulouse-Lautrec and at the time were similar to Edgard Degas. In Paris in 1874 he became friends with Barbey d'Aurevilly and together they collaborated on "Les Diaboliques" and it was in 1878 that the scandal of his famous gouache Pornokratès broke out. Our drawing is older, it is to be compared to the illustration models of the collection of poems by Alfred DELVAU in 1864 "Les Cythères parisiennes, Histoires anecdotiques des bals parisiens" published by E Dentu in Paris (It is a monograph of the balls of Parisian life, a vogue followed by all layers of society.)