Félicien Rops - his acquaintances and friends

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[] Museums of Namur | Félicien Rops Museum | Guided tour [...]

As Octave Mirbeau said "Namur by birth but a Parisian at heart." The artistic and literary elite of the time recognised in Félicien Rops an exceptional person, exceeding by far the image of the libertine conforming to fashion that up until then had been the general consensus concerning him. Many became his friends, Rops illustrated their works or maintained enthralling correspondences with some. He was an excellent letter writer and several thousands of his letters have been preserved. Among his correspondents were Charles Decoster, J. Barbey d'Aurevilly, Peladan, Verlaine, Mallarmé, the Goncourt brothers...

There was also and perhaps most importantly Charles Baudelaire, with whom the Namur artist formed a deep friendship during Baudelaire's time of voluntary exile in Belgium. As Baudelaire confided in Edouard Manet: "Rops is the one true artist that I have found in Belgium!"


Bernadette Bonnier
Last modified: Fri Mar 22 12:25:33 MET 1996
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