Félicien ROPS Namur, 1833 - Corbeil-Essonnes, 1898 Mermaid on the prowl Black pencil, pastel Signed and dated 'Félicien Rops / 95' top right (Insolate, pitting) Mermaid on a seashore, black pencil and pastel, signed and dated, by F. Rops 22,50 x 34 cm (8,86 x 13,39 in.) Comment: Félicien Rops, an unclassifiable Belgian artist, was a brilliant jack-of-all-trades. At once a painter, draughtsman, illustrator and engraver, he stood out from his contemporaries by his constant search for a radical poetic effect, as much through the subjects chosen as through the compositional arrangements or the plastic treatment. Our marvellous sheet is no exception to the rule, and displays a rare visual force. The mermaid with the unusual double tail is not a seductress with a sweet, enchanting voice. Instead, she is a confident invertebrate demon, distorting herself in anticipation of her next marine prey. The creature's position is largely equivocal, as is the presence of the skulls at the foot of its rock. Our drawing is based on a reduced composition by Félicien Rops centred around the figure of the mermaid and known from several engravings and heliogravings dated 1884 according to the Musée Félicien Rops in Namur. Here, the artist enlarges his composition to the right by adding the skulls and the sea horizon, making our sheet a perfectly autonomous work.