Pornokrates

Working in watercolor and pastel on paper, Félicien Rops created this provocative image in 1878 using watercolor and pastel on paper. A blindfolded woman in black stockings, gloves, and plumed hat walks a pig on a leash across a marble stage. Below her, grey classical figures representing sculpture, music, literature, and painting look on in despair.

Three winged putti flee in tears above the scene. The title translates as "the ruler of fornication," drawn from an 1875 anti-feminist tract by Proudhon. Rops envisioned the modern woman as a femme fatale whose sensuality triumphs over the fine arts. The work caused scandal at an 1886 exhibition. Now at the Musée Félicien Rops in Namur, Belgium.