Félicien Joseph Victor Rops
A coeur perdu
1887
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Félicien Joseph Victor Rops
A coeur perdu
1887
Physical Qualities
Photomechanical reproduction (heliogravure), softground etching, Sheet: 239 x 167 mm. (9 7/16 x 6 9/16 in.)
Plate: 190 x 145 mm. (7 1/2 x 5 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
The George A. Lucas Collection, purchased with funds from the State of Maryland, Laurence and Stella Bendann Fund, and contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations throughout the Baltimore community
Object Number
1996.48.3019
For millennia, Eve has been portrayed as leading Adam to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, despite God’s prohibition. Beham’s print shows Eve extending the fruit toward Adam. Eve’s other hand covers her sex, connecting female sexuality with suffering and death, represented by the skeleton standing between them. Rembrandt’s interpretation casts Eve clearly as the instigator, offering Adam the fruit despite his gesture reminding her of God. In Rops’ image, Eve is alone with the tree and serpent. The phrase in the branches that reads eritis similes deo (“you shall be like God”) suggests that in her reach for divine knowledge, Eve condemned herself and humanity to eternal suffering in their banishment from the Garden of Eden.
A. Banta, (Women Behaving Badly: 400 Years of Power and Protest), July 18, 2021 - December 19, 2021.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1996; The Maryland Institute College of Art, through Henry Walters, Baltimore, by bequest 1909; from George A. Lucas, Paris
Women Behaving Badly: 400 Years of Power and Protest
Inscribed: Signed in red pencil: lower center "F. R." Signed in plate: lower center "F. Rops" Inscribed in plate: upper center "ERITIS SIMILES DEO"
Markings: Collector's stamp: verso "M.I. / LUCAS / COLLECTION" (Lugt 1695c)
