Syphilitic Death
Félicien ROPS
(Belgian, 1833-1898)
Syphilitic Death
Date1885
Mediumdrypoint
DimensionsOverall: 21 3/4 x 13 3/4 in. (55.2 x 34.9 cm)
ClassificationPRINTS
Credit LineSBMA, Gift of Jane and Michael G. Wilson
Object number1996.12.40
Collection
- 19th century French
On View
Not on viewLabel Text
Rops produced this image as both a heliogravure, or photogravure, and as a drypoint. The subject is unabashedly grim, though relevant for many individuals in 19th-century France, where the disease was widespread. Rops here reveals both the taboo titillation and aftermath of a clandestine encounter, in the gaunt, sickening guise of the disease personified.