The Falconer (La fauconniere)

Félicien Rops

Associated Names
Félicien Rops

Artist, Belgian, 1833 - 1898

The image shows a drawing of a person depicted from about the hips up, positioned in profile. They are standing and facing to the right, with their right arm raised and bent at the elbow while holding an object that resembles a torch with a flame or ornament on top. Their left arm is bent with the hand resting on their hip. The facial features are not distinctly detailed, but the person seems to have long, dark hair flowing behind them, and they are wearing a helmet with a decorative crest. The clothing appears to be draped loosely, suggestive of classical attire. There are no visible pieces of jewelry or other objects they are interacting with besides the object in their hand. In the lower right corner, there is a smaller sketch of a head wearing a helmet. The background of the image is plain, with no additional elements.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Accession Number

    1951.10.397

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Exsteens 1928, no. 750

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Claude Schaefer [1913-2010], Montevideo, Uruguay; sold 1950 to Lessing J. Rosenwald; [1] gift 1950/1951 to the National Gallery of Art.
[1] In Recollections of a Collector, 1976, p. 56-57, Rosenwald described being approached by a young man in South America who offered to sell his father’s collection of prints that he had brought with him from Germany. Rosenwald gives the year as 1951, but his appointment books confirm that it was actually 1950 - he left for Buenos Aires on 9 February 1950 and returned on 20 March 1950 (Library of Congress, Rosenwald Papers, Box 75). Rosenwald writes that he bought the entire collection of some 1100 prints and drawings, but as they had already been scheduled to be sent to Europe they came to the United States via Antwerp, arriving in the US in late April 1950. Rosenwald decided to keep about a quarter of the collection, destined for the National Gallery of Art, and donate the remainder to other institutions. The inventory log of Alverthorpe indicates that just over 300 works were accessioned there in May of 1950, inventory numbers 50.260-50.530, acquired from Claude Schaefer (Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art, RG 45A1, Rosenwald Papers, Box 41).

Associated Names

Bibliography

1928

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

Wikidata ID

Q65223182

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