Frontispiece: The Waifs (Les Epaves)

1868

Félicien Rops

Associated Names
Félicien Rops

Artist, Belgian, 1833 - 1898

This is a drawing featuring a central skeleton with branching antlers, surrounded by floating mythical creatures, plant-like elements, and various symbols. Floating figures and cherubs are depicted at the top, with the text "Les Épaves de Charles Baudelaire" above. Below, skeletal remains intertwine with vegetation, labeled with words like "superbia," "libido," and "ira." In the center, a circular emblem with a bird symbol is featured. The scene is detailed and full of allegorical content related to themes like decay, life and death, and potentially moral or philosophical concepts.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    plate: 16 x 10.2 cm (6 5/16 x 4 in.)
    sheet: 20.6 x 14.4 cm (8 1/8 x 5 11/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1946.11.186

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Exsteens 1928, no. 465

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1993

  • Baudelaire's Voyages: The Poet and His Painters, Heckscher Museum, Huntington; Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, Austin, 1993-1994, 69, fig. 36.

1995

  • Prints by James McNeill Whistler and His Contemporaries, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995, as Frontispiece: The Waifs.

Bibliography

1928

  • Exsteens, Maurice. L'Oeuvre grave et lithographie de Felicien Rops. 4 vols. and appendix. Paris: Editions Pellet, 1928.

Wikidata ID

Q65072160

You may be interested in

Loading Results