After Joséphin Péladan, The Supreme Vice

Fernand Khnopff (1858-1921)

1885

Pastels, pencil, and charcoal on paper

23.9 x 12.3cm.

Yet another late-nineteenth-century intonation of the sphinx, this one with a skull-like head, thus making its conection to danger and death obvious. — George P. Landow

"Péladan greatly admired Khnopff's work, hailing him as 'the equal of Gustave Moreau, of Burne-Jones, of Chavannes and of Rops'. The admiration was returned, Khnopff made frontispieces for Péladan's novels, and drew on Le Vice supreme for subject-matter." — Edward Lucie-Smith (122)