FÉLICIEN VICTOR JOSEPH ROPS (Namur 7 July 1833- Essonnes 23 August 1898).
Frontispice for: "LES GAÎETÉS DE BÉRANGER", 1864.
Page de titre pour: "LES GAÎETÉS DE BÉRANGER", 1864.
Drawn and etched by Félicien Rops.
Dessiné et gravé par Félicien Rops.
Original Etching and Dry-Point, printed on fine laid paper.
Eau-forte et pointe sèche originale, imprimée sur papier vergé fin.
Published in Paris, 1864.
Publié à Paris en 1864.
Size/Format: 358mm (H) by 280mm (L)
Félicien Victor Joseph Rops (7 July 1833 / 23 August 1898) was a Belgian artist associated with Symbolisms and the Parisian Fin-de siècle.
He was a painter, illustrator, caricaturist and a prolific and innovative print maker, particularly in intaglio (etching and aquatint).
Although not well known to the general public, Rops was greatly respected by his peers and actively pursued and celebrated as an illustrator by the publishers, authors, and poets of his time and provided frontispieces and illustrations for J.B. d'Aurevilly, Charles Baudelaire, Charles De Coster, Théophile Gautier, J.K. Huysmass, Stephane Mallarmé, Péladane, Paul Verlaine, Voltaire, and many others.
He is best known today for his prints and drawings illustrating erotic and occult literature of the period, although he also produced oil paintings including landscapes, seascapes, and occasional genre paintings.
Rops is recognized as a pioneer of Belgian comics.