Félicien Rops

Rops was one of the most important graphic artists and illustrators of his time. After being educated by private tutors, the son of a textile manufacturer went to the Jesuit College in Namur. In 1849 he was expelled from the college, his father died that year, then went to the Royal Athenaeum in Namur, but also enrolled at the Académie des Beaux-Arts there, against the will of his later hated guardian, where he attended courses in drawing. In 1853 he continued his studies at the University of Brussels, where he also attended the free studio Saint-Luc. From 1856, together with his friend Ch. de Coster (1827-1879), he founded the journal L'Uylenspiegel, journal des débats littéraires et artistiques, for which he created illustrations, mostly caricatures, until 1857. After marrying Charlotte Polet de Faveaux, the daughter of the President of the Court of Namur, he lived alternately in his native town and in the summer at Thozée Castle near Mettet, where numerous artist friends also visited him; later Paris and Brussels were added as constantly changing residences. In 1868 he was a co-founder of the "Société des Beaux Arts". In 1869 he fell in love with the sisters Léontine and Aurélie Duluc, two young fashion designers with whom he lived in Paris from 1874 and also had children. Over the next few years he traveled to the North Sea, to Scandinavia, Hungary and Spain, to the United States and to North Africa. In 1888 he was awarded the Order of the French Legion of Honour. Rops was particularly successful as an illustrator, first with the works of de Coster, then he also worked for Baudelaire, with whom he befriended, as well as for J. Barbey d'Aurevilly, St. Mallarmé, P. Verlaine, J. Péladan and others.

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