Félicien ROPS / Signed Autograph Letter / Jews / Antisemitism / Paris

  
Signed autograph letter "Fély" to Octave Uzanne Paris, c. Oblong in-12 on "Petit bleu", in fine and very tight handwriting.

A violent anti-Semitic tirade from the artist in this letter to his friend Uzanne. Here I am back, on my feet, subdued but at work. I will be at home for you, because the chatter and the goose-like screams of Parisians have become so odious to me that I will end up building myself some Paraclete [Holy Spirit] in the midst of the [campaign of] Drouot. I am saturated with the 'modern' stupidity that floats and that one breathes in the air here.

All of this obviously comes from the liver and I have encountered three Jews with otter collars since this morning, whom my grandfather would have had beaten fifty years ago near Segëd [Szeged, the city of origin of his parents in Hungary]. Every time this happens to me, I take an hour to recover and my old anti-Semitic blood does six turns. They should be made to wear the yellow collar, those thieves.

Try to come, we need to talk. Would you like to meet me at the Cardinal at 9 o'clock? I have to go to bed early, but that's in case you can't come. If you have any proofs, show them to me. That will put some courage back in my belly.

To you, my old Fély. Did you go to the ball at [Cyprien] Godebski's yesterday?

[Autograph address on the verso:] "[M] onsieur Octave Uzanne 72 bis rue Bonaparte / Paris". Designated as representing lies, greed, and treachery, the color yellow was imposed on Jews starting in the 13th century by order of Pope Innocent III (and furthermore widely respected by civil authorities). The distinctive garment sign in France was the rouelle, forming a small piece of fabric.

Rops implies, in this surprising missive, to replace the otter collar worn by the three Jewish individuals he encountered with "the yellow collar." To our knowledge, there are no other occurrences as violently anti-Semitic from Rops in his correspondence.