The Lace-Maker
1876
Medium
Graphite, gum arabic, locally scratched
Dimensions
Sheet: 15 3/4 × 11 5/8 in. (40 × 29.5 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Van Day Truex Fund, 2016
Accession Number
2016.693
Tags
Art Historical Context
Félicien Rops' *The Lace-Maker*1876) is a captivating drawing that exemplifies the Belgian artist's mastery of intimate, evocative imagery during the late 19th century. Created with graphite, gum arabic, a technique of locally scratched surfaces on a sheet measuring 15 3/4 × 11 5/8 inches, this work belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints collection, acquired through the Van Day Truex Fund in 2016. Rops, a key figure in Symbolism and the fin-de-siècle Decadent movement, often portrayed women with a blend of sensuality and psychological depth, moving beyond academic trad...
About the Artist
Félicien Rops · 1833–1898
Félicien Rops, born Félicien Victor Joseph Rops on July 7, 1833, in Namur, Belgium, to a prosperous textile manufacturing family, displayed prodigious artistic talent from youth. The only child of Nicholas Rops and Sophie Maubile, he received private tutoring until age ten, followed by education at a Jesuit school in Namur (1843–1848), the Athénée Royal de Namur, and the Academy of Fine Arts there...