Birth in Namur on 7 July of Félicien Joseph Victor Rops, only son of the industrialist Nicolas Rops and Sophie Maubille.

In 1843, he enrolled at the Collège Notre-Dame de la Paix (Namur) to begin his secondary education. He received numerous "billets de contentement" for the quality of his work. He quickly distinguished himself in Latin.

In 1849, Rops lost his father and was given a tutor with whom he never got on. Félicien Rops adopted an anti-conformist and anti-clerical attitude which led to his expulsion from the school. He continued his studies at the Athénée de Namur.

Rops enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Namur. At the age of 18, he entered the Université Libre de Bruxelles, frequenting the intellectual, pamphleteer and artistic student circles of the time and proving to be a ferocious caricaturist.

Rops' first works expressed his revolt and protest against the disasters of his time. His talent would later lead him to illustrate Charles de Coster's "Légendes flamandes".

In 1857, he married Charlotte Polet de Faveaux, the daughter of a lawyer from Namur. The couple had a son, Paul, and a daughter, Juliette, who died in infancy.

source : https://www.museerops.be/