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LEGROS, ALPHONSE (1837– )

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 381 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LEGROS, See also:ALPHONSE (1837– ) , painter and etcher, was See also:born at See also:Dijon on the 8th of May 1837. His See also:father was an accountant, and came from the neighbouring See also:village of Veronnes. See also:Young Legros frequently visited the farms of his relatives, and the peasants and landscapes of that See also:part of See also:France are the subjects of many of his pictures and etchings. He was sent to the See also:art school at Dijon with a view to qualifying for a See also:trade, and was apprenticed to Maitre Nicolardo, See also:house decorator and painter of images. In 1851 Legros See also:left for See also:Paris to take another situation; but passing through See also:Lyons he worked for six months as journeyman See also:wall-painter under the decorator Beuchot, who was See also:painting the See also:chapel of See also:Cardinal See also:Bonald in the See also:cathedral. In Paris he studied with See also:Cambon, See also:scene-painter and decorator of theatres, an experience which See also:developed a breadth of See also:touch such as See also:Stanfield and See also:Cox picked up in similar circumstances. At this See also:time he attended the See also:drawing-school of Lecoq de Boisbaudran. In 1855 Legros attended the evening classes of the Lcolle See also:des See also:Beaux Arts, and perhaps gained there his love of drawing from the See also:antique, some of the results of which may be seen in the See also:Print See also:Room of the See also:British Museum. He sent twoportraits to the See also:Salon of 1857: one was rejected, and formed part of the See also:exhibition of protest organized by Bonvin in his studio; the other, which was accepted, was a See also:profile portrait of his father. This See also:work was presented to the museum at See also:Tours by the artist when his friend Cazin was See also:curator. Champfleury saw the work in the Salon, and sought out the artist to enlist him in the small See also:army of so-called " Realists," comprising (See also:round the noisy See also:glory of See also:Courbet) all those who raised protest against the academical trifles of the degenerate Romantics. In 1859 Legros's " See also:Angelus " was exhibited, the first of those quiet See also:church interiors, with kneeling figures of patient See also:women, by which he is best known as a painter.

" Ex Voto," a work of See also:

great See also:power and insight, painted in 1861, now in the museum at Dijon, was received by his See also:friends with See also:enthusiasm, but it only obtained a mention at the Salon. Legros came to See also:England in 1863, and in 1864 married See also:Miss Frances See also:Rosetta See also:Hodgson. At first he lived by his See also:etching and teaching. He then became teacher of etching at the See also:South See also:Kensington School of Art, and in 1876 See also:Slade See also:Professor at University See also:College, See also:London. He was naturalized as an Englishman in 1881, and remained at University College seventeen years. His See also:influence there was exerted to encourage a certain distinction, severity and truth of See also:character in the work of his pupils, with a See also:simple technique and a respect for the traditions of the old masters, until then some-what See also:foreign to See also:English art. He would draw or paint a torso or a See also:head before the students in an See also:hour or even less, so that the See also:attention of the pupils might not be dulled. As students had been known to take See also:weeks and even months over a single drawing, Legros ordered the positions of the casts in the Antique School to be changed once every See also:week. In the painting school he insisted upon a See also:good outline, preserved by a thin rub in of See also:umber, and then the work was to be finished in a single painting, " premier coup." Experiments in all varieties of art work were practised; whenever the professor saw a See also:fine example in the museum, or when a See also:process interested him in a workshop, he never rested until he had mastered the technique and his students were trying their 'prentice hands at it. As he had casually picked up the art of etching by watching a comrade in Paris working at a commercial See also:engraving, so he began the making of medals after a walk in the British Museum, studying the masterpieces of Pisanello, and a visit to the See also:Cabinet des Medailles in Paris. Legros. considered the traditional See also:journey to See also:Italy a very important part of See also:artistic training, and in See also:order that his students should have the benefit of such study he devoted a part of his See also:salary to See also:augment the income available for a travel-See also:ling studentship. His later See also:works, after he resigned his professorship in 1892, were more in the See also:free and ardent manner of his See also:early days—imaginative landscapes, castles in See also:Spain, and farms in See also:Burgundy, etchings like the See also:series of " The See also:Triumph of See also:Death," and the sculptured fountains for the gardens of the See also:duke of See also:Portland at Welbeck.

Pictures and drawings by Legros, besides those already mentioned, may be seen in the following galleries and museums: " Amende Honorable," " Dead See also:

Christ," bronzes, medals and twenty-two drawings, in the Luxembourg, Paris; "Landscape," " Study of a Head," and portraits of See also:Browning, Burne-See also:Jones, See also:Cassel, See also:Huxley and See also:Marshall, at the See also:Victoria and See also:Albert Museum, Kensington; Femmes en priere," See also:National See also:Gallery of British Art ; " The See also:Tinker," and six other works from the Ionides Collection, bequeathed to South Kensington; " Christening," " See also:Barricade," " The Poor at See also:Meat," two portraits and several drawings and etchings, collection of See also:Lord See also:Carlisle; " Two Priests at the See also:Organ," " Landscape " and etchings, collection of Rev. Stopford See also:Brooke; " Head of a See also:Priest," collection of Mr Vereker See also:Hamilton; " The See also:Weed-burner," some See also:sculpture and a large collection of etchings and drawings, Mr See also:Guy See also:Knowles; " See also:Psyche, ' collection of Mr L. W. See also:Hodson; " See also:Snow Scene," collection of Mr G. F. See also:Watts, R.A.; See also:thirty-five drawings and etchings, the Print Room, British Museum; " See also:Jacob's See also:Dream " and twelve drawings of the antique, See also:Cambridge; " See also:Saint See also:Jerome," two studies of heads and some drawings, See also:Manchester; " The See also:Pilgrimage " and " Study made before the CIass," See also:Liverpool See also:Walker Art Gallery; " Study of Heads," See also:Peel See also:Park Museum, See also:Salford. See Dr Hans W. See also:Singer, " Alphonse Legros," See also:Die graphischen Kiinste (1898); Leonce Benedite, " Alphonse Legros," Revue de Part (Paris, 1900) ; Cosmo See also:Monkhouse, " Professor Legros," See also:Magazine of Art (1832). (C.

End of Article: LEGROS, ALPHONSE (1837– )

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