View source for Alphonse Legros

{{short description|French-British painter and sculptor (1837–1911)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix = 
| name             = Alphonse Legros
| honorific_suffix = 
| image            = Legros - David Wilkie Wynfield.jpg
| image_size       = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = Photograph of Legros by [[David Wilkie Wynfield]]
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = 
| birth_name       = <!-- only use if different than name -->
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1837|5|8}} 
| birth_place      = [[Dijon]], [[July Monarchy|France]]
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1911|12|11|1837|5|8}}
| death_place      = [[Watford, Hertfordshire]], England, United Kingdom
| resting_place    = 
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| nationality      = [[French people|French]], [[British people|British]]
| education        = Maître Nicolardo, Cambon, Lecoq de Boisbaudran
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| movement         = 
| spouse           = 
| awards           = <!-- {{awd|award|year|title|role|name}} (optional) -->
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}}
 
'''Alphonse Legros''' ({{IPA|fr|alfɔ̃s ləɡʁo}}; 8 May 1837 – 8 December 1911) was a [[French people|French]], later [[British people|British]], [[painter]], [[etcher]], [[sculptor]], and [[medallist]].<ref>Legros, Alphonse in: L. Forrer: Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Volume III, London 1907, p. 375-378.</ref>  He moved to London in 1863 and later was naturalized as British.  He was important as a teacher in the British [[etching revival]].

==Life==
Legros was born in [[Dijon]]; his father was an accountant, and came from the neighbouring village of [[Véronnes]]. While young, Legros visited the farms of his relatives, and the peasants and landscapes of that part of France are the subjects of many of his works. He was sent to the art school at Dijon with a view to qualifying for a trade, and was apprenticed to [[Maître Nicolardo]], house decorator and painter of images. In 1851, Legros left for [[Paris, France|Paris]] to take another situation; but passing through [[Lyon]] he worked for six months as journeyman wall-painter under the decorator Beuchot, who was painting the chapel of Cardinal Bonald in the cathedral.

In Paris, Legros studied with [[Charles-Antoine Cambon]], scene-painter and decorator of theatres. He also attended the drawing-school of [[Lecoq de Boisbaudran]] (the "Petite école") where he found himself in sympathy with [[Jules Dalou]] and [[Auguste Rodin]]. In 1855, he attended the evening classes of the [[École des Beaux Arts]]. Legros learned the art of etching around 1857,<ref>Poulet-Malassis, Auguste, and A. W. Thibaudeau (1877). ''Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre grave et lithographié de M. Alphonse Legros 1855–1877''. Paris: Baur. p. III.</ref> and taught himself the making of medals.

[[File:Legros - autoportrait 1898.jpg|left|thumb|150px|Self-portrait etching by Alphonse Legros]]
Legros sent two portraits to the [[Paris Salon]] of 1857: one was rejected, and formed part of the exhibition of protest organized by [[François Bonvin]] in his studio; the other, which was accepted, was a profile portrait of his father. This work was presented to the museum at Tours by the artist when his friend [[Jean-Charles Cazin]] was curator. [[Champfleury]] saw the work in the Salon, and sought out the artist to enlist him in the "Realists," a group round [[Gustave Courbet]].

In 1859, Legros's ''L'Angelus'' was exhibited, the first of the church interiors for which he was best known. Two years later ''Ex Voto'' (1861; [[Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon]]) was exhibited, but only obtained a mention at the Salon. He moved to England in 1863 having been encouraged by his friend, James Abbot McNeil Whistler,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sutherland |first=Daniel |title=Whistler: A life for Art's Sake |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0300203462 |pages=80–81}}</ref> and in 1864 married Frances Rosetta Hodgson. At first he lived by his etching and teaching. He then became teacher of etching at the [[South Kensington School of Art]], and in 1876 Slade Professor at [[University College, London|University College London]] in succession to [[Edward Poynter]].<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Legros, Alphonse|magazine=Who's Who|year=1911|page=1193|url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015047639953;view=1up;seq=1231}}</ref> Legros was never a fluent English speaker. Therefore his teaching was more through demonstration than verbal instruction.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Prettjohn |first=Elizabeth |title=The Scandal of M. Alphonse Legros |journal=Art History|date=2021 |volume=44 |pages=78–107 |doi=10.1111/1467-8365.12545 |doi-access=free }}</ref> His students at the Slade included Charles Holroyd, who later became Director of the National Gallery and William Stang. As gifted artists they flourished under this approach, however, not all of his pupils flourished and some found his non-verbal approach to be frustrating.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Attwood |first=Philip |title=The Slade Girls |publisher=British Numismatic Society}}</ref> Although now based in London, he continued to exhibit at the Paris Salon. He also had works included in the second Impressionist group exhibition in 1876. His work was much admired by his friend Edgar Degas and a study of hands by him was displayed between two drawings by Ingres in his bedroom.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dumas |first1=Anne |title=The Private Collection of Edgar Degas |last2=Ives |first2=Colta |last3=Stein |first3=Susan Alyson |last4=Tinterow |first4=Gary |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |year=1997 |isbn=978-0300203615}}</ref>

Whilst teaching at the Slade School Legros taught a large contingent of women, who came to be known as the Slade Girls.<ref name=attwood>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/pdfs/1986_BNJ_56_10.pdf|title=The Slade Girls|last=Attwood|first=Philip|website=British Numismatic Society|access-date=19 July 2019}}</ref> Through his field of sculpture he encouraged the design of medals based upon the Italian renaissance style of portrait, illustrating the character, profession or life of the individual portrayed.

The Slade Girls attracted commissions from a range of societies and organisations due to the beauty and skill of their work. Pupils of note include [[The Casella Sisters|the Casella sisters]] (Ella and Nelia), [[Jessie Mothersole]], Fedora Gleichen, Lilian Swainson (later Hamilton) and [[Elinor Hallé]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib5_1207150652|title=Miss Elinor Jessie Marie Hallé CBE - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951|website=sculpture.gla.ac.uk|access-date=2019-07-19}}</ref>

In his ''Etchings by French and English Artists'' (1874) [[Philip Gilbert Hamerton]] included work by Legros and [[Léon Gaucherel]].<ref>Philip Gilbert Hamerton, ''Etchings by French and English Artists'' (London: Seeley, 1874)</ref>

[[File:Alphonse Legros, Jules Dalou, 2nd plate, NGA 32652.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Portrait etching of Dalou by Legros]]
Legros was naturalized as a [[British subject]] in 1881, and remained at University College for 17 years. He would draw or paint a torso or a head for the students in an hour or less; in the painting school he insisted on a good outline, preserved by a thin rub in of umber, and then the work was to be finished in a single painting. He considered the traditional journey to Italy an important part of artistic training, and gave part of his salary to augment the income available for a travelling studentship.

==Personal life==
At the time of his naturalization as in 1881, Legros was described as a married French artist aged 43, living at Brook Green, Hammersmith, with four of his children, Lucien Alphonse, aged 15, Marie Florence, 13, Alfred Victor, 11, and Aimee Clotilde, 3.<ref>[https://mediasvc.ancestry.co.uk/v2/image/namespaces/9156/media/42475_1831101456_11606-00182.jpg?securitytoken=879e69a471f45e574837c21f88f743a3 Certificate of naturalization to an alien no. 3345], in ''UK, Naturalisation Certificates and Declarations, 1870-1916'', 
ancestry.co.uk, accessed 12 May 2023</ref> His eldest son, Lucien, became an engineer and president of the Institution of Automobile Engineers,<ref>{{cite web| title =  1911-12, 1915-17: Lucien Alphonse Legros| website = Institution of Mechanical Engineers |url = https://archives.imeche.org/archive/automotive/institution-of-automobile-engineers/iae-presidents-gallery/1322282-1911-12-1915-17-lucien-alphonse-legros?| access-date=31 August 2025 }}</ref> he started a motor vehicle company with [[Guy Knowles]] (Legros & Knowles Ltd in Cumberland Park, Willesden Junction, [[Willesden]])<ref>{{cite news | title = The Iris Car | work =Motor Sport Magazine| date= February 1960| first= S.A.| last =Gibbons | access-date=15 July 2024 |url = https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/february-1960/42/the-iris-car/ }}</ref> and they later established the [[Iris (car)|Iris Car Company]].<ref>{{cite web| title = Legros and Knowles | website =Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History| access-date=15 July 2024 |url = https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Legros_and_Knowles }}</ref><ref name="henfield">{{cite web| title = Miss Margaret Knowles | website =Henfield Museum| access-date=15 July 2024 |url = https://www.henfieldmuseum.org/blog/miss-margaret-knowles }}</ref>

Legros died on 8 December 1911 in [[Watford]].

==Works==
Later works, after Legros resigned his professorship in 1892, returned to the manner of his early days—imaginative landscapes, castles in Spain, and farms in [[Burgundy]], etchings such the series of ''The Triumph of Death'', and the sculptured fountains for the gardens of the [[Duke of Portland]] at [[Welbeck Abbey]]. Pictures, drawings and etchings by Legros, went to the following galleries and museums:
[[File:Alphonse Legros - le calvaire.jpg|thumb|150px|''The Calvary'' (1874), Musée d'Orsay]]
*"Amende Honorable", "Dead Christ", bronzes, medals and twenty-two drawings, in the Luxembourg, Paris
*"Landscape," "Study of a Head," and portraits of Browning, Burne-Jones, Cassel, Huxley and Marshall, at the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], Kensington
*"Femmes en prière" ([[Tate]], London)
*"The Tinker" and six other works from the lonides Collection, bequeathed to South Kensington
*"Christening", "Barricade", "The Poor at Meat", two portraits and several drawings and etchings, collection of Lord Carlisle
*"Two Priests at the Organ", "Landscape" and etchings, collection of Rev. Stopford Brooke
*"Head of a Priest", collection of Mr Vereker Hamilton
*"The Weed-burner", some sculpture and a large collection of etchings and drawings, Mr Guy Knowles[[File:Legros - Communion.jpg|thumb|150px|Communion]]
*"Psyche," collection of Mr L W Hudson
*"Snow Scene," collection of [[George Frederic Watts]] RA
*Thirty-five drawings and etchings, the Print Room, [[British Museum]]
*"Jacob's Dream" and twelve drawings of the antique, Cambridge
*"St Jerome", two studies of heads and some drawings, Manchester
*"The Pilgrimage" and "Study made before the Class" ([[Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool|Walker Art Gallery]], Liverpool)
*"Study of Heads," Peel Pan Museum, Salford.
*"Portrait of Cardinal With Patron Saint" (oil painting), [[Raclin Murphy Museum of Art]], Notre Dame University
*"Communion" (around 1876)
<gallery>
File:Alphonse Legros - Cupid and Psyche - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Cupid and Psyche (Legros)|Cupid and Psyche]]'', 1867
File:The Tinker (Legros).png|''The Tinker'', 1874
File:River Scene With Trees - Alphonse Legros - ABDAG006425.jpeg|[[c:File:River_Scene_With_Trees_-_Alphonse_Legros_-_ABDAG006425.jpeg|River Scene With Trees - ABDAG006425]]
File:Une Ancienne Auberge - Alphonse Legros - ABDAG006424.jpeg|[[c:File:Une_Ancienne_Auberge_-_Alphonse_Legros_-_ABDAG006424.jpeg|Une Ancienne Auberge - ABDAG006424]]
File:Beggar With Hat - Alphonse Legros - ABDAG006423.jpeg|[[c:File:Beggar_With_Hat_-_Alphonse_Legros_-_ABDAG006423.jpeg|Beggar With Hat - ABDAG006423]]
File:Alphonse Legros, l’incendie.jpg|[[c:File:Alphonse Legros, l’incendie.jpg|L’incendie (1876)]]
File:Vagabond passant dans une Ruelle - Alphonse Legros - ABDAG006422.jpeg|[[c:File:Vagabond_passant_dans_une_Ruelle_-_Alphonse_Legros_-_ABDAG006422.jpeg|Vagabond passant dans une Ruelle - ABDAG006422]]
File:Les Femmes au "Crucifixion" - Alphonse Legros - ABDAG011896.jpeg|[[c:File:Les_Femmes_au_"Crucifixion"_-_Alphonse_Legros_-_ABDAG011896.jpeg|Les Femmes au "Crucifixion" - ABDAG011896]]
File:La Charrue - Alphonse Legros - ABDAG011892.jpeg|[[c:File:La_Charrue_-_Alphonse_Legros_-_ABDAG011892.jpeg|La Charrue - ABDAG011892]]
File:Portrait de Sir Frederic Leighton PRA - Alphonse Legros - ABDAG011890.jpeg|[[c:File:Portrait_de_Sir_Frederic_Leighton_PRA_-_Alphonse_Legros_-_ABDAG011890.jpeg|Portrait de Sir Frederic Leighton PRA - ABDAG011890]]
File:Portrait de Val Prinsep RA - Alphonse Legros - ABDAG011879.jpeg|[[c:File:Portrait_de_Val_Prinsep_RA_-_Alphonse_Legros_-_ABDAG011879.jpeg|Portrait de Val Prinsep RA - ABDAG011879]]
File:Paysanne Des Environs De Boulogne - Alphonse Legros - ABDAG011871.jpeg|[[c:File:Paysanne_Des_Environs_De_Boulogne_-_Alphonse_Legros_-_ABDAG011871.jpeg|Paysanne Des Environs De Boulogne - ABDAG011871]]
File:S.E. Cardinal Manning - Alphonse Legros - ABDAG011865.jpeg|[[c:File:S.E._Cardinal_Manning_-_Alphonse_Legros_-_ABDAG011865.jpeg|S.E. Cardinal Manning - ABDAG011865]]
</gallery>[[File:Alphonse Legros, Auguste Rodin, NGA 8272.jpg|thumb|150px|Portrait etching of Rodin by Legros]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[File:Legros-K06823.jpg|thumb|150px|''{{lang|fr|La Barque en Peril}}'' (''The Boat in Peril''); ink and watercolour, 1903]]

=== Attribution ===
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Legros, Alphonse|volume= 16}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite DNB12|wstitle =Legros, Alphonse|first=Charles|last=Holroyd}}
* Dr Hans W Singer, "Alphonse Legros," ''Die graphischen Künste'' (1898);
* Léonce Bénédite, "Alphonse Legros," ''Revue d'an'' (Paris, 1900); 
* [[William Cosmo Monkhouse|Cosmo Monkhouse]], 'Professor Legros', ''[[The Magazine of Art|Magazine of Art]]'' (1882).
* Edward Twohig R.E., Print REbels: Haden - Palmer - Whistler and the origins of the RE (Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers) {{ISBN|978-1-5272-1775-1}}. Published by the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in London, in 2018.

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Art UK bio}}
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/sets/72157619449248234/ The Boston Public Library's Alphonse Legros set on Flickr.com]
* [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/field/creato/searchterm/Legros,%20Alphonse,%201837-1911/mode/exact Alphonse Legros exhibition catalogs]
* {{FrenchSculptureCensus}}

{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legros, Alphonse}}
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[[Category:19th-century British sculptors]]
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