We define a simplicial enrichment on the category of differential graded Hopf cooperads (the category of dg Hopf cooperads for short). We prove that our simplicial enrichment satisfies, in part, the axioms of a simplicial model category structure on the category of dg Hopf cooperads. We use this simplicial model structure to define a model of mapping spaces in the category of dg Hopf cooperads and to upgrade results of the literature about the homotopy automorphism spaces of dg Hopf cooperads by dealing with simplicial monoid structures. The rational homotopy theory of operads implies that the homotopy automorphism spaces of dg Hopf cooperads can be regarded as models for the homotopy automorphism spaces of the rationalization of operads in topological spaces (or in simplicial sets). We prove, as a main application, that the spaces of Maurer--Cartan forms on the Kontsevich graph complex Lie algebras are homotopy equivalent, in the category of simplicial monoids, to the homotopy automorphism spaces of the rationalization of the operads of little discs.
