Alphonse Legros

Alphonse Legros (born May 8, 1837, Dijon, France—died Dec. 8, 1911, Watford, Hertfordshire, Eng.) was a French-born British painter, etcher, and sculptor, now remembered chiefly for his graphics on macabre and fantastic themes. An excellent draftsman, he taught in London, revitalizing British drawing and printmaking during a period of low ebb.

Legros first attracted attention at the Paris Salon of 1857 with a profile portrait of his father. Other well-received early works are the Angelus (1859) and the Ex Voto (1861). He became closely associated with Gustave Courbet, James McNeill Whistler, and Édouard Manet and was hailed by Charles Baudelaire and other champions of a “new realism” as an important figure. His paintings exhibit his characteristic fine draftsmanship, in the tradition of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, but have come to be regarded as perhaps too obviously sentimental.

Encouraged by Whistler, Legros settled in London (1863) and taught etching until his appointment as Slade Professor of Fine Art, University College, London (1876–92), where he insisted on sound constructional drawing. He helped found the Society of Medallists in 1885 and made a series of 26 cast portrait medallions of famous Victorians.