Pornocrates La dame au cochon – The Lady with the Pig by Félicien Rops
Why a blindfolded, naked woman has a pig on a leash?
The painting meant to attack the material decadence of Paris at the time, which is symbolized by the pig’s golden tail and the woman’s feathered hat and band of gold and blue silk. Also, sexual decadence is represented by the pig steering the naked woman who’s in “blind” submission to “her sexual urges.” The pig might stand for debauchery, the devil himself or the philandering man. The brilliance of this masterpiece lies in its possibility to be read in reverse: the woman is a ruthless femme fatale (view Feature 4 of Symbolism) who’s in control of the pig.
The painting is yet another sexist Symbolist artwork warning its audience that men are controlled by women and women by Satan. The name of the painting is inspired by a misogynist book by French philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: La pornocratie, ou Les femmes dans les temps modernes (Pornocracy, or Women in Modern Times). Pornocracy means government, or domination, by whores, or corrupt people. Note that “Pornokrates” in Greek letters are carved on the frieze at the bottom.
Although his masterpiece might have misogynistic undertones, Rops was not a man who could bear life without women; he shared a household with two sisters, both of whom carried his children! The painting is almost as shocking today as it was back then. Rops understood its effect, hence he included three cherubs flying away in horror. He saw Parisian society as a place where fine arts are being trampled on by sensuality and decadence, which explains the four allegories on the frieze under the woman’s feet representing sculpture, music, literature and painting. He depicted them as male figures from antiquity looking despondent and defeated. Keeping to the spirit of the painting, unfortunately, he replaced even music (think of “the muse”) who’s traditionally symbolized by a beautiful female figure (as in fellow Symbolist Moreau’s Hesiod and the Muse) with by a male one.
Learn to identify characteristics of Symbolist art